Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2017 Weekly checkins
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Week 44: 10-27 – 11/2
Mod
I finished four books this week:
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, part 2 in her Radch series (a sci-fi out-in-space-and-on-other-planets saga). My first audiobook finished this past week. Fantastic! (This is a non-human POV, if anyone needs that.)
The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe - murder mystery with multiple POVs. Disappointing. (Author is from Sweden, if anyone needs author-from-another-country. And the argument could be made for this being an unreliable narrator.)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - my second audiobook of the week, and maybe I'm not an Amy Tan fan, because this is my second book by her, and I haven't loved either one. It turned out the audiobook was abridged, but yet read by the author, so I suppose it was authorial abridgement?
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny - I read one chapter a day as part of the group read. This was fun! Non-human POV, month in title, has illustrations ...
QOTW I follow tor.com for new sci-fi and free shorts, Book Riot for general rec's, and Smart Bitches Trashy Books for romance rec's (tho I'm starting to give their recommendations some serious side-eye, the last few have failed for me, but I still love their snarky reviews.)
Great by Sara Benincasa. YA-updated and gender-swapped The Great Gatsby. I did not like this book at all. There are no likable characters (as there was in the original) but there was also no depth. And the author just threw in some of the important symbols (like the green light) but they were just thrown in there without rhyme or reason.The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich. I did not enjoy this book. It has an interesting premise-a secret spy agency creates the perfect love interests and send them out to make people fall in love with them and find out all their secrets. But the two love interests (the Nice Guy and the Bad Boy) fall in love with each other. This book wavered between reading like a parody of YA tropes and taking itself way to seriously. Had it stuck with the parody, it probably would’ve been really good.
QOTW:
Book Riot podcasts, Sarah Maclean tweets a lot of recommendations for romances, twitter as a whole…
Hello everyone! Hooray for the 2018 list! It has been great to work from my home office this week and to have no business trips on my upcoming calendar. I can finally get caught up on everything – just in time to get all of my holiday planning done and my 2018 family calendar designed. Phew. BTW, Mother Nature can't seem to make up her mind about what season it is in Dallas. We had 1 cool fall day last weekend and Tuesday was more fall-like, but today we are going to set a record for the first 90 degree temperature ever recorded in November. Ugh.
I checked off another prompt this week – the 800+ page book – and I’ll have at least 1 more done by next check-in. Yay! I’m now at 44/52.
I finished:
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This was the first of a YA series that I don’t think I will continue, at least not anytime soon. I flew through it, but it felt too much like a rip off of The Hunger Games and was way too predictable. I also grew really annoyed with the writer’s style, which was incredibly basic and repetitive. I know I am in the minority on this one, but it just wasn't enough for me.
It by Stephen King for a book over 800 pages (A8). This was mostly via audiobook – 45 hours!! – which I recommend because the narrator does such a great job with all of the voices, the accents, the stuttering, etc. Steven Weber definitely enhanced the story for me. Over the weekend I reluctantly saw the movie. So creepy!
I See You by Clare Mackintosh. Such a great thriller. I love Mackintosh’s writing style and the way she slowly builds suspense. When reading this I was suspicious of everyone but the 2 main female characters! I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys the genre.
I am currently reading:
Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris. Just about finished!
The Windfall by Diksha Basu for a book where the MC is a different ethnicity than you (31).
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly. This is #5 in the Harry Bosch series.
QOTW: I truly get most of my recommendations from this group, although I also get some from The Modern Mrs. Darcy, Book Riot and a couple of friends. If I ever allow myself to go into a bookstore (dangerous...I can't get just one) I check out their recommendations as well as their new authors table. I've found great authors to follow there, including Gillian Flynn and Tana French before their mainstream fame.
Mod
So, who else thinks they harvested a lot of the reject prompts from Around the Year?
I'm happy about "twins" though!! That was a prompt I wanted :-)
Nadine wrote: "..."A book read by a stranger in a public place" will be a lot easier for city dwellers who use public tra..."I am not a fan of this prompt either overall. Lately it seems like everyone I see reading either has a Kindle in hand, which doesn't allow you to see the title unless you ask, or a business book. Maybe I will see a someone in the background of a TV scene or movie reading...
Nadine wrote: ""A book read by a stranger in a public place" will be a lot easier for city dwellers who use public transportation - but it will be tough for me. I will have to get very creative to find a book for that one!!"I've already been thinking about that one, and you can easily use one that's IN a book! Like if a character sees someone reading a book on a bus. Also, if someone in our groups posts that they saw someone reading a book - well, that person is most likely a stranger to you as well, yes? ;) Time to get creative!
Nadine wrote: "Hmmmm. At first glance, I'm not in love with the 2018 categories. Maybe they will grow on me. "A book read by a stranger in a public place" will be a lot easier for city dwellers who use public tra..."I think you could interpret the internet as being a public place! Maybe you find a blog discussing current reads or even something in this group! I think this is definitely a prompt that can be interpreted in many different ways to fit your lifestyle.
Oh man! I shall get through this check in quickly so I can click on that link. This alters my day as now I'm going to be thinking about 2018 books!I finished The Raven King and finished up that series. I was underwhelmed by it and still have unanswered questions with the ending. Now that I think about it, I meant to google it and try to fill in some of those gaps...
Started The Likeness and I'm about 50% in. Its a race against time with this one because its due at the library soon and there's too many holds so I can't renew. It helps that I have the audio (which I love her accent) and the e-book.
Neither of these books fit a prompt! So I'm still at 34/40 and 11/12.
QOTW I watch youtube videos regarding books - reviews, book hauls.
Hello from Cleveland. I'm super excited the 2018 list is out! I thought for sure we would be waiting until Thanksgiving time for it, so this was a fun surprise. I'm definitely not in love with all the prompts, but one I suggested made it, which is exciting.The first book I finished this week was Who Fears Death for a book by a POC. Oh man, was this awful. According to the jacket, this was Nnedi Okorafor's first non-YA, and it showed because it felt like...YA. I wanted to learn more about the genocide happening or the five month journey through the desert (or maybe how the magic system worked?!), but it was hundreds of pages of who was sleeping with who instead. Ugh. I have no interest now in the HBO show, but I will be curious to see how they make a red eye watching the MC without it looking like a Lord of the Rings rip-off.
I also finished Cloud Atlas for a story within a story (x5). I was worried this might be too "weird" just for the sake of being different, but I loved it! I may have stayed up way too late last night because I just had to know how each storyline wrapped up! This is in contention for my favorite book of the year.
QOTW: It's lame, I guess, but I like the GoodReads recommendations at the top of each book's page. I always skim through that if I really enjoy something. Listopias can be pretty good too. The microhistory one definitely did some damage to my TBR!
I am SO excited about the new challenge...even though I've yet to finish this years! I wasn't anxiously awaiting the list as I was last year so it was a really pleasant surprise to see the post this morning! I'm especially excited because I saw a few of my suggestions on the list! I'll have to read through it more carefully later to figure out my plan of attack.This week has been a slow reading week for me. The only book I finished was Cress which I thoroughly enjoyed. The book looks huge but I read it only on my breaks and lunches and still finished it within a month even though I took vacation! It was an easy read and quickly grabbed my attention. I plan on finishing the series but taking a break first. I used it for the steampunk prompt even though it doesn't technically qualify. It was tagged so on Goodreads so I'm sticking to it!
Hoping to finish more books this week and get next years list started!
Mod
Nadine wrote: "Rebecca - LOL I don't always love Okorafor, but I LOVED Who Fears Death!! It made me laugh to see your polar opposite reaction."I read Lagoon earlier this year and had no strong feelings either way (plus I've seen it listed as being "weird" though I'm not sure I agree) so I was willing to try something else by her. I just wish I had known how YA...adjacent this was, because YA is definitely not for me. I do wonder how much editing it got content-wise, because I caught several very obvious grammar mistakes, which makes me question the rest of the process. I can see why HBO picked this up though!
I'm so pumped for 2018!! I cannot wait to sit down with my tbr and try to slot in some ideas and then go searching! I'm soooo close to finishing 2017 (seven to go).Finished:
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman for a book with pictures. It was a quick and interesting read and made me want to run for my DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany's to watch it with all of this information in the back of my mind.
Heir to the Duke because I needed a fluffy romance. This one has some SERIOUS critics but I didn't find it as awful as they did.
Jane for another prompt. This was a graphic novel of a modernized Jane Eyre written by the co-creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Reviewers said the story was mediocre but the art elevated it and they were completely right - the art was gorgeous and worth the experience.
Currently Reading:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption which is a book I bought on a trip AND in a used book store, both of which are prompts I still have open.
QOTW: I'm with you on What Should I Read Next (it's how I learned about Unbroken!). I also find a lot of my romance recs from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. And Book Riot occasionally has a good list.
I haven't checked in last week, thus I have more to report this week.I am really excited about the new list, I have already started to work on my plan for the Around the Year challenge for next year (which I want to tackle for the first time) and can't wait to start planning for the Popsugar list. I don't like some of the prompts (book about sport, book set at sea, book involving a heist, book about a villain or antihero, book about or set on Halloween), but I love some of the others (especially the next book in a series, Nordic Noir, book from a celebrity book club) and think most of the prompts will grow on me while I try to read the books.
In the past two weeks I finished quite some books,
Hotel Savoy for a book mentioned in another book. This was the only prompt-related book I read. It was mentioned in Ostende - 1936, Sommer der Freundschaft which I also finished right before. I liked both books. Both are rather short. Hotel Savoy represents a world that doesn't exist anymore, people living at a hotel in a small Polish town in 1919.
Additionally I finished three mysteries/thrillers, which I liked, but which weren't too challenging.
Denn rein soll deine Seele sein. This is the first Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker novel and it was good to read it and find out some of the background of their lives. I have read some of the later novels of the series already. Very American, though. I read a lot of European mysteries normally and the style is different, also the way in which police work seems to be organized and how people speak.
I read the 16th Brunetti. Lasset die Kinder zu mir kommen: Commissario Brunettis sechzehnter Fall I used to read the Brunetti novels in the 2000s and stopped after the 15th. It felt really good to start reading them again. Brunetti is good, because he is actually a nice person and has a working long-time relationship. Sometimes it feels as though that isn't possible for police and other dectectives.
I also read the first Agatha Raisin mystery, which was fun, and nothing you have to think about much which was good for me to relax and unwind. Agatha Raisin und der tote Richter
I listened to Schiffbruch mit Tiger (Life of Pi) and really liked it. But I am pretty sure I wouldn't have liked to read it myself. Listening to it was really good, though. I especially liked the thoughts on religion and life in general
And I read Elie Wiesel. Night. Die Nacht. I am glad, I finally read this. It is of course devastating. I have read quite a few books written by holocaust survivors. This one is special in its style and manner of reporting. I recently visited the museum at the former concentration camp at Buchenwald and I got the book at the bookstore there. I read the book in one go.
I just noticed that I only put up the German titles. It seems I have read more in German recently. Sometimes it is cheaper to get the used German translations to novels that were written in English. As for translated books I read them in German rather than the version translated into English.
QOTW:
I read book reviews in newspapers and magazines (old-school print versions) and listen to my favorite reviewers on the Radio.
YAY!!! I have been waiting on the 2018 list am so excited about it being here :-)
Can't wait to go find all the books to fit the prompts. I am just glad that there are no long books for this year...
The one about what a stranger is reading. I might just go to instagram and se what people are posting pictures of ;-)
Really looking forward to seeing what everybody else suggest for all the categories. Some I have to look up what they mean or maybe you can answer? How old are you when you finish high School?
This week I read:
The Graveyard Book
Six's Legacy
Its quite weird I have put in dates I read Six's legacy put it doesnt turn up on my "read" list. I have them sorted by date read. Are others having problem with this?
Currently reading:
Nine's Legacy
QOTW: I follow quite a lot of people on instagram so if they recommend something I look the book up.
Thrilled the 2018 list is out! I see many happy hours looking over the list and then searching my bookshelves (both print aand digital) for possibilities! One of my personal goals each year is to fit unread books I already own into the prompts. It is so satisfying to watch the 'read' shelf fill up while the 'unread' shrinks by an equal number!Still reading my final prompt book Hunger’s Brides: A Novel of the Baroque, the 800+ gorilla. I am about 54% done, and it will take me at least 3 more weeks to finish it. I have a really busy schedule on top of it being a slow read. Really loving it and this past week was really fun as two friends on textile tour in Mexico have been posting photos from the very areas where what I was reading were set!
QOTW: my main sources: wandering through bookstores, reading print reviews in newspapers and magazines, lists of new and coming releases at Barnes & Noble, and this weekly check-in.
Mod
Nadine wrote: "In the USA we start Kindergarten at age 4 or 5 then go to grades 1 thru 12, graduating high school after 12th grade, at age 17 or 18."Brilliant thanks... We graduate from "high school" at 15 or 16. Now all I have to do is start counting back ;-)
Hey People, Weatherwise, just what Brooke said: temps anywhere between 51 and 91, weather anywhere between hot and dry and cold and misty, with the occasional soaking thunderstorm (for Halloween night obviously). Looking forward for our trip in El paso next week for some consistency!
Had a quick peek at the 2018 list; sort of a mixed bag there. Not so bad that I would exclude doing it again, but a few less interesting ones (my usual pet peeve: not enough freedom left to contestants to fit in the kind of books they actually enjoy). We'll see.
Back to the 2017 challenge, one book read that month:
✅38. A book set around a holiday other than Christmas: Louise Penny, Still Life , Minotaur, 2008 (1st ed. 2005).
Now that book could have filled quite a few other prompts: a book by an author from a country you've never visited (yet!), the first book in a series you haven't read before and a book with an eccentric character... I'm using it for the holiday prompt, though, since I didn't have too many ideas for that one (it's set around Canada's Thanksgiving day).
As for the book itself, I was slightly disappointed; gave it three stars.
See my review for the reasons... I'm getting the impression that,
probably because the increasing pressure of the numerous self-publishing opportunities, the publishing world doesn't have real editors anymore, the kind that would sit down with an author and tell her that "this stuff has great potential, but..." and prescribe an expensive cleanup of the work.
Not a bad read anyway; I might very well read more of the series at some point.
QOTW: I dunno; chatting with friends, reading reviews (not that often), chatting with bookstore people... Mostly trusting my luck, most of the time.
Hello from Columbus! I still haven’t finished my last two books for the advanced challenge, and I’ve decided to switch out the 1000 page whopper of a book The Executioner's Song for something shorter. I would love to finish it next year but I just don’t see it happening by the end of December. I wish it had an audiobook version, I’d probably be done with it by now. But, I did make some progress with the book riot challenge. Siddhartha was for the person of color spiritual journey prompt. And let me just said the book riot challenge has some weirdly specific prompts that doesn’t lead to many picks. Just tell me what book you had in mind when you described the prompt and I’ll just go ahead get that, please. But it was an okay book. Nothing too amazing but it wasn’t annoying or boring. And it was a nice, short read too. I finished it in under 24 hours.
Their Eyes Were Watching God was my pick for a classic written by a person of color. I decided to give this another go with the audiobook version, and thank God someone made this into an audiobook. I had tried to read a physical copy years ago and I just couldn’t read the dialogue. It was like being in the first grade again, trying to sound out words out loud to figure out what I’m reading. But listening to it, it wasn’t a struggle at all. I loved the story, and I would absolutely recommend people get their hands on the audiobook version.
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy was an all ages comic for book riot. It was short and sweet, I thought it was really cute and my 11 year old daughter loved it. I plan on reading some more.
Strong Female Protagonist. Book One was a superhero comic with a female lead. I’ve never been too into comics, especially superhero comics, but this was fine. It didn’t make me think too hard about it (I’m looking at you, Watchmen) and was pretty straight forward with an interesting plot.
So I’m still at 40/40; 10/12 with 84 books read this year. And I’m already halfway through the book riot challenge (12/24)
QOTW: I mostly get my recommendations here. Also from physical book store, by what’s on the shelf and looks interesting. I’ve found a lot of good picks from the suggestion lists popsugar will put out too. I’m subscribed to book of the month club and have gotten my hands on so many good books that way.
Oh, my goodness! I cannot wait to start picking books for next year's list! I'm so excited it's out. There were a few I was unsure of (what is nordic noir? what if I don't really know much about my ancestry?), but overall, I'm still really excited to get the new list & get started adding books. I am a little nervous for next year, because I am going to try to do the Around the Year in 52 Books challenge, as well, so instead of just 52 books, I'm going to be trying to fit in 104 specific books. I'm on target for my goal of 100 books total this year, but that was with only the 52 specific books, and the other 48 are random, choose what I want books, so I hope that I can manage to complete both challenges next year. Fingers crossed!On to the check-in:
Finished:
The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child by Daniel J. Siegel. Hooray, I finally finished! This wasn't a super long book, and it did provide a lot of useful information, but it seemed to take me a long time to get it read. I did like the advice for how to help change your child's mindset (and even your own) from a "No Brain" to a "Yes Brain." This means it's easier for them to handle stress and difficult situations that come up, or easier for them to come back from a meltdown if they don't handle the stress as well.
Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World by Nell Stevens. This was okay. There were parts of it I liked a lot, but then a lot of extra stuff thrown in that I wasn't interested in at all.
The Wrecking by Christy Barritt. I thought this would be a good, scary book for around Halloween, and it was a cheap or free book (I can't remember) for my Kindle. It was a good book, but I guess it was more of a novella than a novel. I kept waiting for worse to happen, for the suspense to crank up a couple notches, and then, they caught the bad guy & it was over. Um, that was quick.
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn. This was a sweet read (well, listen - I got the audiobook from my library through Overdrive) about what would happen if the Queen of England just decided to up & leave one day, without telling anyone where she was going. Between the queen and the other characters, it was quite charming, and a fairly quick listen. I actually finished listening to it this morning, and had forgotten that it was check-in day until I got to the site a while later, so I'm counting it as finished in the last week.
Currently Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. We thought about putting the last three books in the series off for a bit, since they get so much darker than the first four, but my son was insistent, so after a couple weeks of a break, we started the next book in the series. I have a really hard time saying no to anything HP-related.
The Vampire's Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter. This is one that was previously a free download for my Kindle, and it's been there for ages. I thought it would be a good Halloween-ish read, plus it helps me with the V for my A-Z list, so I started reading it. It seems like it's going to be a cute book.
Motherhood Comes Naturally by Jill Smokler. I got this short book, and another by the author, as stocking stuffers a year or two ago. They are quick reads with a lot of humor, so I've been reading them to reach my GR goal more quickly. I liked the first one okay, and I liked this one until she started talking about parents who let their 3rd grade girls dress like "sluts" and "whores." I was not okay with that, and I honestly almost put the book down after that. I am going to keep reading it, but I will not be reading anything else by her. It really irritated me!
For my A-Z challenge, once I finish my vampire book, I'll only need J, X, & Z, so I think I can manage that in the next two months. For my GR challenge, I set a goal of 100 books in 2017, and I have finished 83, so I have 17 left. According the GR, I'm on track, so I hope to meet my goal by December 31st!
QOTW: I get most of my recommendations from GR, between this group, the AtY52 group, and my friends' reading lists & reviews. I also get a lot of ideas from Pinterest, where I follow MMD & BookRiot, plus I have some real life friends who are readers, so we talk books sometimes, too. Obviously, I have too many places to find recommendations, and that would explain why my TBR list is currently 1,565 books long!!! :-o
Yay, so glad the new list is out! I love lists, and I love finding books for all the prompts. I'm disappointed in a few (Another movie prompt?!?!) and may give myself permission not to do a few that don't fit me well. But overall, YAY!This week there was a little regression to the mean -- I finished only 1 book (barely), down considerably from 3 books a week for a couple weeks. And the book didn't even fit a challenge prompt. It's my "middle of the night" book, one I know that I'll enjoy and won't be upsetting in any way. It has to be on my kindle, too, so I can read without turning on the light. I started this one, A Question of Belief, when I was reading a stressful book and finally finished it. It's a Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, always enjoyable. I am making progress on several other books for prompts, just haven't finished any of them. Hopefully I'll have more to report next week.
Question of the week
I get ideas lots of places - recommendations from friends, the Goodreads newsletter (I love how they tell you when there's a new book by an author on your shelf), newspaper book review sections, author interviews on the radio, book lists by Book Riot and other groups. So many great books out there!
Hey guys...I haven't updated for the last two weeks...I have been extremely distracted and I don't know why...haven't really read much either, but I did manage to tick off 3 more books for this challenge in that time and I am done with the advanced prompts!!!Books and challenges completed:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America - book that is mentioned in another book
This book has been on my radar for quite some time and I was so happy to find it in the recommended reading section of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World so I could use it for this prompt. I gave it a solid 3 ★ rating. It was very interesting but a bit of a sloggy read.
All Is Not Forgotten - a book recommended by an author you love
I really wanted to read The Troop for this prompt because Stephen King said it scared the poop out of him, but unfortunately none of the libraries around me had a copy. So I looked at the books I already had and found that Karin Slaughter wrote a blurb for All is not Forgotten. It took me a little while to get into it because of the perspective it is written in and the "twist" at the end.........never mind, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, lets just say it was another book I only gave 3 ★ to.
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race - a book about an interesting woman
Another book that has been on my radar for quite some time, pretty much ever since I saw they were making the movie. It covers a much longer time frame than the movie does (starting in WW2 rather than during the space race of the late 50s and 60s) but it was still an interesting read and yet another 3 ★ read for me.
Updated numbers:
36/40 main challenge
12/12 advanced challenge
Currently reading:
Sleeping Beauties - doesn't fit any challenges, but I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it and I am the first at my library to have it....it still has that wonderful "new book" smell!!!!
I still have 4 prompts to tick off, an espionage thriller, a book about food, a book set around a holiday other than Christmas, and a book you bought on a trip. I have books set aside for two of the four. The pain is going to be a book bought on a trip...I never go anywhere and when I do I don't buy books very often. Oh well, I will figure something out.
QotW
I get most of my book recommendations from Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. I have quite a few readers and authors I follow on social media and I just check to see what they are reading and if it is any good.
Good morning, everyone! I'm so excited that the 2018 list has been released - I really like the prompts. I've decided to cut back the number of challenges I'm signing up for next year, but this one is a must-do.I've got 3 books left in this year's standard Popsugar Challenge, and I hope to read at least one of them in the next week.
Finished
- A Pale View of Hills - I used this for Around the Year's prompt of a book with a chilling atmosphere, and man was it creepy! I really like Ishiguro's work.
- The Secret History - I used this for Around the Year's prompt of a book from the BBC Big Read list. I thought it was going to a be a total 5-star book for the first half, but I was less wowed by the second half - still great, though! Glad to have made my way through it. That brings me to 44/52 for that challenge.
- Multiple Choice - I used this for Book Riot's a book by a Central or South American author set in Central or South America. Very different from what I usually read, but I found it very moving and thought-provoking! Would work as an example of ergodic literature, too. Now at 21/24 for that challenge.
In Progress
- How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia - I just love Mohsin Hamid's writing style - those long, elliptical sentences! I burn, I pine, I perish.
DNF
- Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged - This one has a fantastic premise (basically, a hijabi Bridget Jones), but the actual book just didn't grab me. I may try it again in the future when I'm in the mood for a light read.
QOTW
Mostly from my library coworkers! But also Modern Mrs. Darcy, this group, Smart Bitches...
Yay new list!!! No page numbers and true crime!!!! I am so excited this list looks like the best one yet!I also love the "favourite prompt from past lists!"
I won't finish this years :( I'm too far behind but I'm going to try to finish the prompts I miss and will allow doubling up with next years prompts too.
I haven't finished any books!! I've been too tired to read and have been bingeing shows and podcasts lol
QOTW
mostly just my library book club and this group
It feels like I just barely finished the 2017 challenge and now they announce the 2018 one. XD To be fair, I started the 2017 one in March, a couple months late...I think the hardest category will be the "Nordic Noir" for me, as that's not a genre I've ever read before or think I'll particularly enjoy. Ah well... this list IS about expanding one's horizons, right? So long as they don't ask me to read erotica... not my cup of tea.
QOTW
Either from the library where I work (and get to see all the incoming new books!) or from random places on the Internet.
Bonjour,It's a good day with the new list. i can't wait to spend time in bed looking at what would fit every prompt, reading here the différents suggestions. I will be doing only the 40 books like this year. It give me freedom to read anything else in between. I particuliary like the one with second books in a serie.
My challenge here is over but last week I finished a book that could fit the ''suggested by an author' prompt: Shades of Grey. It was a very fun book, I laugh out loud several times and it's not often when I read a dystopian novel.
I am now reading Throne of Glass because of the good ratings, but I don't feel so sure about that one. I think I'll have to stop reading YA because I am already annoyed. I'll see soon enough I guess.
QOTW: GR is my main place to turn for book suggestions. I have a few friends and my sister who are reader also.
The new list is a mixed bag for me...there are some interesting prompts and some where I'm like, didn't we *just* have this prompt? I'm not a fan of back to back repeats. Like book mentioned in another book is back again, and I'm a little over it. It's not going to be insanely hard; it's just hard to be excited about. The only prompt I think is just bad is the "favorite prompt from a past popsugar challenge". Come on, that's just lazy, Popsugar. We gave you all those great ideas and you tell us to just go do one of the old prompts again? Booooooooooooo.
Books I read this week:
10 Days in a Madhouse: Good journalism; the treatment of mental health patients (or just anyone whose family wanted to get rid of them) was pretty horrible. The shocking part is that this was published in 1887, and while it got a lot of attention at the time, decades later the conditions at these institutions had not changed much.
Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: A Book: cute and sweet
Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant: Fantastic. I needed a female superhero comic for the bookriot challenge, but I hate superhero stuff. Delilah is badass robin hood type in the 1700s(?) so it was much more enjoyable for me than just another girl in a body suit punching dudes in a back alley. Plus the art is great.
Brooke wrote: "Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This was the first of a YA series that I don’t think I will continue, at least not anytime soon. I flew through it, but it felt too much like a rip off of The Hunger Games and was way too predictable. I also grew really annoyed with the writer’s style, which was incredibly basic and repetitive. I know I am in the minority on this one, but it just wasn't enough for me.I felt the same way. I mean I finished it, it wasn't the worst thing I've read. But it felt very derivative and I didn't love the style. Not going to bother with the rest.
I'm excited the new list is out, though there are a handful of categories I'm not too keen on (Nordic Noir and Allegory) but I will do like I did this year - get those done and out of the way early in the year.As for this year's challenge, this week:
I completed my book written by more than one author:
From a Certain Point of View I absolutely LOVED this book and if you are even remotely a Star Wars fan, you need to read it.I also finished my Book with an Eccentric Character
NPCs it was OK.I'm at 48/52 for the entire challenge.
QOTW:
This year I've gotten a lot of suggestions from NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour" they do a segment called "What's making me happy" and they often talk about books they are reading. I used two for this year's challenge.
Other places are actually my sister and one of my co-workers.
Hi everyone!Checking in on time this week! But then since I checked in so late last week, I don't have a whole lot to report.
I finished The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye , it was decent. I found it a bit predictable, I kind of saw where a lot of it was going. I also thought the two different story lines going on felt a little forced together. However it felt like things were being set up for another book, so maybe things will be clarified in the next.
Currently reading The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women which is good so far. Feels a little bit like Hidden Figures, but more tragic.
I'm really excited to get next year's list! I do agree, though, that I wish they wouldn't have exact repeats back to back, with the exception of stuff like "book published this year" since new books are published every year. I can already see my problem prompts, but I think there's always going to be some of those. Not a huge fan of book someone's reading in public. I work from home, I don't really GO places where people are reading in public. And if they are, chances are it's an ereader/phone where you can't just peek at what it is. We'll see, maybe I'll luck out!
QOTW: Aside from the goodreads threads, mostly I get recommendations from friends who like to read, or from the various book related mailing lists I'm on. Bookperks, tor, etc. Or I just page through new titles at the library and grab what looks interesting.
Hello everyone! It's fiiiiiinalllly cold here! And by cold, I mean the high today is 67 and I'm wearing a sweatshirt. I am pleased as punch, I tell you. There is so much hot spiced cider in my future!I finished one book this week: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things for my book by or about someone with a disability. I know there was some debate about whether mental illness counts for this prompt, but I ended up landing on "yes". I only laughed out loud a couple of times, but I did enjoy the book for the most part. I also don't tend to read contemporary memoir-ish books, so I'm happy that the challenge is pushing me to expand my horizons.
Currently reading The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (written by someone I admire, or many someones in this case) and 11/22/63 (800+ pages). I'm enjoying them both; I think they balance each other out.
I'm currently at 42/52, and I'm not 100% sure I'm going to finish every single prompt this year, but I'm getting to a zen place about it. As I said, I'm reading interesting books and learning and growing, so I don't need to worry about Doing It Wrong.
I don't mind the book mentioned in another book because there are just sooooo many that it's not really a difficult prompt, it can be kind of a gimme. Plus I like the added challenge that I set for myself this year of a book mentioned in a book that I read for the challenge.And I also really like the Favourite past prompt one!
This was the week I finished my Popsugar challenge! My last remaining prompt was #1, book recommended by a librarian. I had saved it for last, and asked my friendly school librarian for a rec. She picked March and I read the whole trilogy in a weekend. It was quite good, although not a 5-star read for me because I was already quite familiar with much of it so the educational aspect didn't land.Before that, I also read Eliza and Her Monsters which I finished last Friday - very good and not entirely what I expected in terms of tone. Also 4 stars
This week, my main read was The Essex Serpent, which was so GOOD! I wrote it in for the first round of GR Choice Awards, and was surprised it wasn't already on the list. I liked how it was a different spin on the Victorian age, and it was beautifully written while still being entirely readable. The characters and their relationships were so well drawn. 5 stars!
I also fit in a quick graphic novel, Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey. (Both of these last 2 books counted as AtY prompts.) It was good, not great. I did like the art a lot.
I am excited that the new PS list is out, and will spend some time going through it today. Too soon to tell if I am happy about it, or if I will concentrate my efforts on other challenges next year.
QOTW: I'm not sure - I think challenge prompts send me on a scavenger hunt, and GR ratings and reviews as well as members of my various groups are probably the main way I decide. I have a few reading friends that I talk books with too.
So excited that the 2018 challenge list is out and I haven't even looked at it yet!Annoyingly warm today in Houston today. I can't wait until it gets cooler and stays there for the rest of the year.
Currently reading-
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance as a physical copy
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as an audio book
QOTW- The What Should I Read Next podcast and this group mostly.
Hi all,Definitely cooler today in Vancouver. It was lightly snowing on my way home!
I'm at 37/40 and 2/12.
I finished The Wolves of Winter. It was for the prompt with a season in the title. I had this as an ARC. Very enjoyable and reminded me of Station Eleven, a lot. Plenty of "winter" - I think it was snowing during the entire book.
Currently working on A Walk in the Woods, for the prompt of a book set in the wilderness. Bill Bryson is so funny! I've already read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - so I thought I would try a different trail book; I'm at the point where Bryson is in the middle of the Appalachian Trail (or AT as it's called in the book).
Just got to finish picking my last few books for 2017!
But I'm pretty excited about the fresh list for 2018. I'm going to spend some time with that list! AWESOME!!!!
QOTW: Mostly ideas/thoughts/reviews from family and friends. I love getting and hearing new reading suggestions and ideas.
I worked really early and went straight to a movie, then sat and chatted with a friend when I saw the new list had been posted! I need to get up in 6 hours and I'm not even home yet. I don't want to sleep, I want to play with the list! I do have a solution for the reading in public issue. I'll post it when I get home, unless someone in the thread has beaten me to it.
Edit: haha yup everyone beat me to it
Nadine wrote: "Hmmmm. At first glance, I'm not in love with the 2018 categories. Maybe they will grow on me. "A book read by a stranger in a public place" will be a lot easier for city dwellers who use public tra..."I live in NYC, commute by public transportation, and I was really dismayed by this one because everyone, including me, read almost exclusively on their phone, a tablet, or a kindle. Let alone all you not living in cities or commuting on public transport. Then I realized a little detective work would allow anyone anywhere to spot something: stake out a public place where people are apt to read or peruse books. Where would that be you ask.
Libraries. Bookstores with seating areas, especially in children's sections (who says it has to be an adult book), waiting rooms or areas where people have to wait for trains or buses or planes. Coffee shops and cafes.
Take a print book (just in case another Pop Sugar challenge reader is nearby), find a spot with a good view of seating, settle in with your book open and start watching. Should only take a few minutes to spot something to read.
I'm home and have nearly resigned myself to falling asleep with my laptop on me tonight. I finished four books this week. One will fill an empty prompt, one might fill one (I haven't thought that hard about it yet) or may replace a different book, and two were just for fun.
The Sorceress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, #3) will either be my mythical creature (I wasn't thinking about it while reading) or replace the picture book I didn't enjoy in the mythology prompt. I haven't decided. I will probably read the next book for the other.
I listened to two books by John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire and The Android's Dream. Both are kinda fun sci-fi. I never really read much sci-fi, but this year I have found some that I enjoy, so I will probably poke around and see if I like it more than I assumed I did. One thing I enjoyed in both of these books was about gender. The default pronoun was not always he, sometimes the woman was the sweary bass-ass, and once a female character had cramps. I just thought, YES, because sometimes all this stuff is happening and then also, ugh, cramps. I just liked it.
I just couldn't find a month/day book that interested me, and then I came across October Sky. Looking at it though, it was not the original title, just the mass market title for the movie tie-in... hmm... BUT, I did find From Rocket Boys to October Sky: How the Classic Memoir Rocket Boys Was Written and the Hit Movie October Sky Was Made. It's basically the book version of DVD special features. He tells about how and why he wrote the book, how it became a movie, and his experiences with both those processes. As a person who LOVEs special features, it was interesting to have a book version.
Currently reading:
Audio: Girl Waits with Gun, which would perfectly fill novel based on a real person next year, but I think there are two sequels so if I can hold out maybe I will use one of those.
Paper: Lily and the Octopus, which I am really enjoying.
I actually made some progress on Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Maybe when I missed a couple of days work recently I caught up on enough rest to read again. Woohoo!
QOTW: Besides this group, do you have any other favorite sources for book suggestions?
I get a good deal of them here, but lots of other places also.
Walking around bookstores, especially Powell's, plus their Picks of the Month.
The Silent Book Club facebook page. I also follow many publishers on social media and some authors.
Literary Hub
African American Literature Book Club
I found a book cover I particularly enjoyed , found his website and some of the other books he's designed for are now on my TBR Will Staehle
Literature Map
I also enjoy bookstagram and booktube but don't think I've chosen a book because I saw it either place. Yet.
Hooray, for it is November. Autumn has crept into Southern California -- finally -- but it isn't so cold that I can't have the doors and windows open as much as possible.Books finished:
A book with an eccentric character: Dumplin'. Not the best book ever, but it made me cry, and I enjoyed it. I will be looking for a paper copy to purchase once I return this one to the library.
A book set around a non-Christmas holiday: The Thanksgiving Visitor. Super-short; I read it in about twenty minutes. Written very well, but I was glad it didn't take longer.
I should finish my "book recommended by an author I love" today: Uprooted. I tried to finish last night, but my eyelids were drooping. I've got to the good part, though, so I'm anxious to finish work and get back to reading.
I did some category shuffling, and I have four books to go after this. Three, if I don't get picky about my average page count. (My current book with a red spine has 350 fewer pages than another one I want to read. If I get to the bigger one before the end of the year, that will push my count above 360. Yes, I am weird.) I've finished fifteen non-challenge books and have a few of those in progress, too.
QotW:
I get a lot of my book recs from groups I follow at Facebook: Book Riot posts most often, and I see Buzzfeed Books a lot. Friends recommend books or share ones they've finished. I've read a few books discussed by the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club and watched the resulting videos at YouTube. I've reblogged book lists at Tumblr, mostly books by/about people of color or LGBTQIA+ people or other marginalized groups, but I haven't looked into those as much as I intended. Yet. I have a board of favorite books I would recommend at Pinterest, but I don't go looking for books to read there. It's hard to tell the difference between an advertisement and a personal review.
My to-read list here at Goodreads is almost 600 books long, so I have plenty of books to choose from already.
Hello from Denver, where the baby is teething and fussing all night and everyone got their flu shots yesterday, which prevented me from checking in!It’s not been a great reading week. My slump of non-audio reading continues. I just haven’t had the energy. I’m so glad I discovered audiobooks - in the past this would have been a total reading slump.
But I’m excited to see the new list. Maybe that will jolt me out of the slump. Or maybe I’ll just be gazing at shiny new Books for next year. Either works!
In the past week I listened to In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer, which would work for several prompts but all ones I’ve filled and The One Safe Place which was pretty disappointing. In My Hands was really good - the first sixth I didn’t like and I was contemplating giving up but as soon as she starts talking about the war, it’s compelling.
I haven’t started anything new yet - I finished off The One Safe Place around midnight last night and promptly fell asleep and today has been busy so far. I’m hoping for some decent downtime over the weekend.
QOTW: I primary get my book recommendations from Book Riot and The Professional Book Nerds podcasts. I suppose the 1001 list could be seen as a recommendation too. I have a lot of friends who post on FB about books they are reading. And then once a week I will browse through the newly added books on Overdrive and of the cover/title/author or even a blurb author catches my eye, I’ll read the description and potentially add it to my wish list.
I completely forgot to add that I get many book suggestions from Audible.
My first check in, though I have been reading others!This week I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and There's Someone Inside Your House and started Murder on the Flying Scotsman andSorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and gave up on the The Lying Game.
I loved loved loved Evelyn Hugo! It might be my favorite book that I read this year.
I was sick for a week, so I spent a lot of time catching up on podcasts the last two weeks...and finding new podcasts. I am totally a True Crime Podcast junkie. So many Serial Killers, so Little Time. I guess growing up in the 80's, which was really a boon decade for these guys, left me with a lot of questions and curiosity about them.
I got nothing knocked off the challenge list this week, but I only have a few left and Sorcery and Cecelia will fulfill my two author prompt.
QOTW: I don't really know where I find new books to read. I guess maybe goodreads or amazon front pages? Browsing the library's overdrive? I never seem to have a problem finding something to read...maybe it's just fate!
Sara wrote: "Update: BIG NEWS!!! The 2018 list has been released. You can go here to view both the 40-prompt regular list and the 10-prompt advanced list: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen......"Yay! So excited about the new list!!
Last week I read An Enchantment of Ravens for a book club. I don't read much fey fiction, so this was a nice change of scenery for me, and even though it was a YA book, it didn't have most of the things that can get on my nerves when I read YA.
QotW: Well, there's the BookCrossing community. That's huge. And then there are my my IRL book clubs. A few of them are hosted by a local indie bookstore, and it's virtually impossible for me to leave there empty-handed. The others are so varied that I am always updating my wish list after a meeting. And then there are the cons. Last weekend was Mile Hi Con in Denver, and every year I find a new author or three to try.
I haven't finished anything during this check-in period. I'm continuing to read The Language of Secrets and Evil Under the Sun; about halfway done with both of them. Neither one fits an unfinished prompt, but that's ok since I only have two left to complete (38/40 and 12/12).I checked out two ebooks from my library yesterday, but I'll save those for next week's check-in :) I read both of them while traveling on Metro to and from the DC Heart Walk.
I'm really excited that the 2018 PopSugar list is out already! Like others, I wasn't thrilled about the "book read by a stranger in a public place" prompt at first. However, I loved all the suggestions about how to define it in this thread, so I'm pretty excited about that one now since I hadn't really thought about virtual options at first.
QotW:
I'd say my Mom & book club friends are probably my favorite sources for book recommendations, but I have a bunch of sources that I regularly use. For example, I've picked up some great recommendations while listening to BookRiot's Read or Dead podcast, the WSIRN? podcast, and NPR's Fresh Air. The bookish Twitter accounts that I follow (ranging from professional reviewers to bloggers to publishers to authors) and the many, many bookish newsletters (such as my local library's various newsletters) I subscribe to are often good recommendation sources for me. I've discovered some excellent authors and books using the GoodReads recommendations feature and regularly check it out. In terms of bookstores that offer recommendations, my fave indie mystery store (Mystery Loves Company) is my top source -- the owner always comes up with excellent matches based on your reading preferences and somehow manages to find a book or series you've never heard of but end up loving. The Malice Domestic conference has also introduced me to tons of new books and authors.
Thanks for sharing the new list. I wish it was more inspiring. Too many of them have me cringing. It'll be an interesting year.It's another slow week and shall be for a while as it's nanowrimo so my reading time is slender (so glad I've finished the challenge)
I finished Ghouls Night Out, Union of the Snake & xxxHolic, Vol. 4. I'm not sure they'd fit any of the challenges though.
QOTW - I'm now on SO many publisher newsletters I can't even read them all. I glance at them. I listen to friends. I browse the library's new book shelf.
For some reason I have never participated in the weekly check-ins :o I guess I was still too busy to spend much time in the group, but lately I've been checking it more and more ...I already finished the 2017 Popsugar Challenge in September, but I am continuing over at the Mount TBR challenge, trying to decimate my mile-high TBR pile. That is also why I'm not sure I will actually finish the PS challenge next year ... I will try to squeeze in as many books from my TBR pile as I can while simultaneaously taking the Mount TBR challenge, and if I have room for new books at the end of that, I will come back to the PS challenge and fulfill the prompts that I couldn't serve from the TBR pile.
That said, my reading for the check-in period included:
Origin – The latest Dan Brown did not disappoint. As an added bonus for me, I lived in Barcelona for six months in 2008, so I know the city and its art very well, and the second half of the book made me a little homesick for it. I enjoyed the book and burned through it in two and a half days despite very little time for reading.
Anonym – The second co-authored book by two German thriller authors, Ursula Poznanski and Arno Strobel. Fast-paced, very exciting, with engaging characters and a breathtaking finale. It's just as good as their first collaboration, Fremd, and again the book consists of chapters alternating between the male and the female main character's perspectives. Sorry it's not available in English (yet)^^
Judassohn – The second book in a trilogy by German urban fantasy/horror author Markus Heitz, vampire fiction with strong historic ties (definitely more "Dracula" than "Twilight"). This one started out strong, felt a little disjointed in the middle, and then pulled off a twist that made me realize it all made perfect sense after all.
Currently finishing up Die Verlassenen (The Abandoned), a novella and prequel to a series I've never heard of which was sitting on my Kindle unread, and gearing up for The Executioner.
QOTW:
I have subscribed to a number of newsletters, I follow my favorite authors on Goodreads and via their own newsletters, and I check Goodreads daily. My Stephen King fan group on Facebook also gives out great suggestions, and my private circle of reading aficionados is constantly exchanging tips, too.
I only read two books for the challenge in October, but good news: I also only have two books left! So, here is the link to my October reading challenge: https://theninethrealm.blogspot.com/2...
I... actually finished the challenge last month. And I started it in March. ^^; I read fast, what can I say... plus I'm often reading more than one book at once, which helps.I'm finally actually using my freaking Goodreads account after years of letting it lie fallow, so hoping to be a little more active on here. And actually hoping to start the reading challenge in January instead of partway through the year like I did in 2015 and 2017 (I skipped 2016).
Currently reading This Book Is Full of Spiders, since I read and enjoyed John Dies at the End this year for the "book with an eccentric character" prompt. Also think I've managed to put together my list for next year's challenge...
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (other topics)Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (other topics)
The Halloween Tree (other topics)
Song of Susannah (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Markus Heitz (other topics)Ursula Poznanski (other topics)
Arno Strobel (other topics)
John Scalzi (other topics)
Nnedi Okorafor (other topics)
More...
I will be working on setting up threads to discuss each prompt individually, and I will post a link to a spreadsheet with all the prompts listed.
Welcome November! It is birthday month in our house, and as the weather cools I usually find more time to curl up and read. I read 6 books last month. Not quite as many as I was reading at the beginning of the year but much better than I did during the summer.
Books finished:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – I finished this reread last Thursday but after check-in.
A December Bride by Denise Hunter – Used for my book with a month or day in the title. I tried 4 or 5 other books for this prompt and just could not engage with them. This was a short, 100-page novella, but I enjoyed the story, and I discovered a new author to explore.
Nearly finished:
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer. I have about 2 hours left on the audio.
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan. Only about 40 pages left. If I could have stayed awake a little longer last night I would have finished this one.
Question of the Week:
Besides this group, do you have any other favorite sources for book suggestions?
I follow Modern Mrs. Darcy and listen to her fantastic podcast (What Should I Read Next). I also get a ton of recommendations from a Facebook book club that I'm a member of (hello to the lovely Book Group ladies that are also members of this group). I have a couple of friends who recommend books, but most of my friends either don't read much or don't read the same kind of books as me.