Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A book you bought on a trip? You mean a trip to the book store, right?

This one is going to be hard. I don't buy many books anymore and I'm trying to read my TBR shelf or library books. This one will be a stretch

Really bummed with the timing on this one as I just got back from Palm Springs on Tuesday night..

My next trip isn't planned until next September, but maybe I can fit a day trip to Portland sometime? Always love their bookstores :)

I don't go on many trips, and the past several that I've been on haven't involved any buying as far as I remember. This one is definitely a stretch for me.

One I don't buy a lot of books, And two, I would never pay airport prices. Although, I'm going to New York in December and I've been dropping hints about going to The Stand bookstore and this would give me an excuse to buy something from there! :)

Also, embarrassingly enough when I first looked at the list I thought it said BROUGHT on a trip and I thought "ohh, that could be anything!" Until I really studied the list when I realized it was BOUGHT. Whoops.

I will probably read Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, which I bought in Granada (in the Alhambra bookshop!) a few years ago.
The problem is, once I tried to read it and quit after a few pages because it was just too boring. Let's see how it goes this time.

I guess sometime next year I need to go on a trip. I always bring enough books on trips that I do not buy any.

Dang. We toured the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam last year and I bought The Diary of a Young Girl there for my classic from the 20th Century. I like the idea of doing something similar for this prompt if I can find something relevant on my next trip, but I may have to relax a little on that and just go with a book from the bookstore in a different city.

I am not buying much anymore but every summer, I buy one book from an Independent Bookstore while on a rustic camping trip. I already read the book I bought in 2016, so I guess I will have to wait until the trip in 2017 to get my selection. I love supporting small business. We may take a quick trip to Chicago before that where I could possibly pick up a selection.

I'm so glad I found this list when I did. We're going on a trip for Christmas and don't have any others planned. Now I can add "bookstore" to my list of things to do!

All it takes is a delayed flight and moody Kindle and you'll have this one covered.

I don't buy books very often, but I have a business trip planned in a few weeks, so I guess I can stop by a store and buy a book while I'm down there. I don't like these categories that involve buying books, because it's so limiting, for those of us who love our libraries.

I travel a lot, and my souvenir is usually a book by a local author bought from a local shop. I try to look for writers from the city/region I'm visiting.

I have a couple I picked up last year that I didn't read: one from an Icelandic writer who won the Nobel Prize, and one from a Portuguese author. (They're both in a box until I can move into a flat.)

I bought America's First Daughter at the airport on my way to Jamaica in August but never got around to reading it so that fill this prompt for me.

I will say, I love reading so much that I always look up small, independent bookstores before I go somewhere and make a point to stop there. It's kind of like researching good local food before we go! It's gotten me some of my favorite books, and it's so cool to see how different places put out their books. We are going to Paris for Christmas (and are so excited!) and I already told my husband that clearly I have to buy something at Shakespeare and Co!

Lindi wrote: "My next trip isn't planned until next September, but maybe I can fit a day trip to Portland sometime? Always love their bookstores :) "

Yes! Come to Portland. We have all the books. And if you try maybe you can hit a Silent Reading Party while you're here.

The only book I currently have that I bought on a trip is a copy of Three Little Cajun Pigs I got in NOLA.

My boyfriend bought me the best birthday present ever a couple of years ago (seriously - he's never going to beat it) in the form of a weekend away that included a reading spa (can highly recommend - was just perfect, sitting in an adorable independent bookshop with a fellow booknerd for an hour, drinking tea, eating cake and walking away with a huge pile of books - plus Bath is beautiful).

I still have a couple of books from it that I haven't gotten around to, namely Railsea and A Tale for the Time Being, so I'll read one of those for this prompt.

Jo wrote: "My boyfriend bought me the best birthday present ever a couple of years ago (seriously - he's never going to beat it) in the form of a weekend away that included a reading spa (can highly recommend..."

I've never heard of a reading spa but now i desperately want to go to one.

I hadn't either! But it was great :)

I'm going to Cape Cod in May so I think I'll research if there are any interesting book shops I can check out. Though there's a good chance I'll come back with a book about the Salem Witch Trials.

Indie bookstores on vacation are such a great idea for this! I'm using a book I bought at an antique store on a day trip last summer for this. If anyone is near any antique stores or used bookstores, I highly recommend, I bought a 1940s hardcover version of Paradise Lost and Other Poems for $1. Cheap way to fulfill this prompt for sure ;)

Or go to a used bookstore when you visit grandma and grandpa next time.

I went to The Strand bookstore in NYC over the weekend. I loved it! I picked up The Future of Us so that's the book I'll be reading for this.

It says a trip but doesn't specify what kind of trip. Could it be a trip to a store or a trip to some other local place or does it have to actually be a trip to a different town, state, country, whatever?

Megan wrote: "I went to The Strand bookstore in NYC over the weekend. I loved it! I picked up The Future of Us so that's the book I'll be reading for this."

The Strand is GREAT. I think I might have a book from my first trip to Bermuda that I haven't read yet somewhere in my shelves. If not, maybe I'll get this job and be able to go on a trip next year. I already read the book I bought in Spain this year, so that's out.

I'm a librarian and have a fundamental personal issue with buying books. LOL It's sad to say, but I just crossed this one off the list for me.

It doesn't say when you bought it on a trip. I just remembered a book I purchased on a trip to Boston a few years back. I'll probably read that.

Lindsay - you NEVER buy books?

Several years ago, we visited the Matchless (silver) Mine in Leadville, CO. The story of Baby Doe (whose husband owned the mine) was so fascinating that I bought the book The Legend of Baby Doe that the museum sold. I've never read it, so this is a perfect opportunity to finally read it.

I can't remember where I heard about Baby Doe, maybe it was in this book: Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women. You're right she does sound interesting.

I went to Washington DC this past summer and all I wanted to buy was the biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. So I now have a book to read for this challenge. :)

This is an easy one for me because I go to BookCrossing and various genre conventions a lot, and I never can leave the vendor halls empty-handed. And there are always so many books on offer there that I can't get from a library. For this prompt, I think I'm going to read the copy of Wildcat Under Glass that I bought from Alki Zei earlier this year.

But for those of you struggling with this one, maybe it would help to think a little smaller. Did you never buy a little souvenir book at a famous museum or historical site? So what if it's more photos than text!

I'm in London for Christmas, today I visite the British Library and I bought Go set a watchman by Harper Lee. This will be my book

I'm on vacation right now and have bought a ton of books! Probably Matched

I have The Knot and The Guts both of which I bought on a trip to Cheltenham Literary Festival a few years back and not got round to reading, so it will be one of those.

I was at a loss for this category until I realized I went on a trip to Virginia to see Civil war battlefields and picked up The Wilderness while I was there. I hate to re-read it, though--I'm trying to read books I haven't already read.
It could also count as a book with pictures since there are pictures of the battlefield throughout it.

I tend not to buy books and instead use the library as much as possible. However, I just returned from a trip to Scotland and Ireland and bought a book for my young cousins (ages 1-7) called The Adventures of Shamrock Sean. I figured that I would just count that one since I wasn't buying any other books. I know it is for kids but it was honestly so cute and I think they will enjoy it so much! If you need any children's books for any other challenges I would definitely recommend this one!

Ever since I got a Kindle, I haven't bought any books while traveling. I have a couple of "coffee table" books bought as souvenirs, but I really don't want to use them for the challenge. Instead, I am going to use one of 2 books:
1) The Monster of Florence, which I bought before traveling to Florence but ran out of time to read.
2) The Power of One, which I learned about while on a recent trip with girlfriends. One friend was reading it, and it turned out that everyone on the trip except me had read it, all because of recommendations from different people. I can't pass up an opportunity to read a book that highly touted, so a loose interpretation of this prompt will allow it to fit. (I ordered the book while at the airport heading home and received it 2 days after I got home.)

I count any trip out of the house as a trip. To a used bookstore, yard sale, grocery store, mall, vacation, business, etc. And it doesn't haven't to be a recent purchase.

You *must* have a book lying around that you bought and haven't read yet, I have hundreds!

But I chose a book I bought when I was in Hawaii, it was an e-book BookBub deal for Rogue. I was on a trip when I purchased it and just because it wasn't purchased at a physical store doesn't mean anything! I'm using Talon, which was also an e-book deal at some point, for my "first book in a series you haven't read" task.

I read Where the Rekohu Bone Sings by Tina Makereti. She lives in New Zealand, and I bought the book while on a vacation there last year.

I recently went to my grandmother's place and brought a book, Ghachar Ghochar from one those old-fashioned bookstores. It's an english translation from Kannada and already alluring to me.

I don't have the funds to buy many books OR to go on vacations. When I do buy books, it's something I've taken out of the library numerous times, and then I generally buy it used online. Does "a trip to a website" count as a trip? Or do I need to "take a trip"to a thrift store and look through their book section, to buy a book that I'll probably read once before donating again? I don't have a whole lot of bookshelf space either (though that's changing since my daughters moved out and took some books with them.)

No, I don't have "hundreds of books lying around that I've never read." Money is tight and every purchase is carefully thought out- even at thrift shops and garage sales. Why buy used books when I can read them from the library for free?

Has anybody else noticed that this is the only prompt that requires you to actually purchase anything? Even last year's prompt of "the first book you see in a book store" I met by writing down the name of the first book I saw in Costco (hey- it's a store and it sells books!) and then reserving it from the library.

Taylor wrote: "I tend not to buy books and instead use the library as much as possible. However, I just returned from a trip to Scotland and Ireland and bought a book for my young cousins (ages 1-7) called [book:..."
I consider children's books to be just as much a "real book" as one written for adults.

Anna wrote: "I travel a lot, and my souvenir is usually a book by a local author bought from a local shop. I try to look for writers from the city/region I'm visiting.

I have a couple I picked up last year th..."

I don't travel often, but when I do go on vacations, I've gotten into the habit of buying myself a book as a souvenir, usually something that is related to the trip.

For this challenge I'm planning on using A White House Diary, which I picked up on a trip to Austin, Texas. We went to visit Lady Bird Johnson's gardens while we were there, and I think I bought this at a museum we stopped at.

My only problem is that it's so LONG and I'm already behind on my challenges, so I don't know if its realistic for me to try and finish it. I might have to check out my shelves for something else, maybe something I grabbed while waiting at the airport. Or use one that I bought on a "trip" to the grocery store, lol.

Ruthla8 wrote: "I don't have the funds to buy many books OR to go on vacations. When I do buy books, it's something I've taken out of the library numerous times, and then I generally buy it used online. Does "a tr..."

I can think of a couple work arounds you could try:

1.) Read a book that reminds you of a trip you took. Maybe that's a book you first read while you were travelling or it's a book set somewhere that you loved visiting. Or maybe it's centered around the same type of travel as a memorable trip, like a cruise for example.

2.) Read a book from (and possibly even at) a library across town or just not one you normally visit. Look at the table of the "Librarians' Picks" books and see if there are differences from what you've seen at your normal library.

3.) Track down a copy of a book that your library doesn't have by going to another library. If you've got a college/university nearby see what their policies are for public entry to the library. Many of them allow you to come in and read all you like, just no checking out. You could make a trip out of tracking down the book and reading it at the library where you found it.

These are all probably somewhat time intensive, but I guess trips kind of tend to be that way. Anyway, I hope these will give you a way to check off the prompt without feeling obligated to make an unnecessary purchase.

edit One other idea I thought of: Take a trip to see a friend who you don't see very often and agree to exchange a book. Then you can catch up and "buy" a book from them using one of your own books as currency.

Jackie wrote: "I can think of a couple work arounds you could try:

1.) Read a book that reminds you of a trip you took. Maybe that's a book you first read while you were travelling or it's a book set somewhere that you loved visiting. Or maybe it's centered around the same type of travel as a memorable trip, like a cruise for example..."

Those are good ideas, Jackie!

Allison wrote: "Unless I happen to pick up a book at the airport (unlikely, unless my Kindle dies or something!) I will probably replace this with Book you Read on a trip, or (E-)Book you check out from the librar..."

Or maybe while you're traveling you see a book that looks interesting and check it out from the library as a result of finding it while on a trip?

Going away in 2 days yay!!

I finally finished the Justin Cronin trilogy, The City of Mirrors. It was worth the read! Decent ending to a great series with a different spin on the whole vampire/end of humankind plot.

I travel but I have not bought any books while I was actually away. I usually get books before I go away to have so I can read them while vacationing. But my friend bought Slum Dog Millionaire while on Martha's Vineyard, so I am going to read that.

Jackie wrote: "Ruthla8 wrote: "I don't have the funds to buy many books OR to go on vacations. When I do buy books, it's something I've taken out of the library numerous times, and then I generally buy it used on..."

Reading a book from another library could work. I don't think I can spare the time to read an entire book there unless it's a picture book.

I just noticed "Genesis and the Big Bang" that I bought in college about 25 years ago. I can't remember exactly where I bought it, but likely in a Judaica store in a town with a larger Orthodox Jewish population than where I lived. At the very least it was purchased in the town where I was dorming, and not where my legal address was.

I have read it before, but not in several years. The prompt doesn't specify that it has to be a book I never read!