Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

This is an interesting one! I love puzzles :)

Warcross and its sequel Wildcard plus Ready Player One all involve virtual reality games.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is based on a game of cards and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There is based on a game of chess.

The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster

There are also the code-breaker, treasure hunt type books where characters race around the world following clues. The only thing that comes to mind is the National Treasure movies, but I know there are books that have similar plots.

Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?

I love a puzzle-solving adventure! Scavenger hunt books are some of my favorites. This prompt is a gimme for me, I have two of these on my nightstand right now.

Middle Grade Puzzle Paradise:

Mr. Lemoncello was so fun I ran out the next day to get the second book. Now I need the next two in paperback
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics
Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race
Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game

These are also fun! Run around San Francisco looking for hidden books.
Book Scavenger
The Unbreakable Code
The Alcatraz Escape

I have the first one on my nightstand, You can go to the website and print out the puzzles so you don't have to mess up your book.
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
The Potato Chip Puzzles
The Puzzler's Mansion

Art mysteries with puzzle clues
Chasing Vermeer
The Wright 3
The Calder Game
Pieces and Players

York: The Shadow Cipher - A massive old puzzle hidden in the city

From my TBR:

The Parker Inheritance - Also on my nightstand
Winterhouse
Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye
Click Here to Start
Floors
The 39 Clues series: The Maze of Bones
Secrets of the Seven Series: The Eureka Key

And yes, The Westing Game


Oh and some more adult fare:
The Rule of Four
Basically anything by Dan Brown like Da Vinci Code

I'm using the Triwizard Tournament as my game here and reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Brittany wrote: "I'm using the Triwizard Tournament as my game here and reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

Good call! I'm rereading the whole Harry Potter series next year, so that's an option for me too. I wouldn't have even thought of it.

There are two books by Matthew Reilly that fit this category - The Tournament (about chess) and Contest.

Both are really good.

Does anyone else think of "game" as different from "sport"?

I have a bunch of football books on my TBR shelf - but somehow I am not convinced it counts as game? Though on the other hand, it is part of the Olympic "Games", and I can play "a game of football", so I'm probably being ridiculous ...

Some sports are games, like football (Are you going to the game tonight?) and some aren't, like running.

The Hellbound Heart if you're into horror.

I think I’m going with Enders Game for this one.

I've got The Westing Game penciled in for AtY's "children's classic" category, so I think I will be using that for this category too. (Since Wildcard will be used for LitRPG!)

I just looked at The Rule of Four and holy cow the blurb mentions "Ivy League" THREE different times, so, gee, I think it must be set at an Ivy League school ;-) ... so I'm adding that to my list of ideas for "set at a university" although it strikes me as being maybe a little too impressed with itself? which I have ZERO patience with.

I can go either Ready Player One or Otherworld for this one

I actually suggested this prompt and "game" did not include sports but did video games, board games, scavenger hunts. But it is your challenge.

Some books I had in mind:

Chess
The Flanders Panel
Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess
The Luneburg Variation

Crossword puzzles
Parnell Hall- puzzle lady series
Nero Blanc
The Christmas Crimes At Puzzel Manor

For Scrabble fans, I absolutely loved Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis.

I'll be reading The Dice Man for this one!

Ready Player One

Qualify looks like the only one from my already owned TBR that 'qualifies' for this prompt.

If I end up hating that, maybe The Supernatural Enhancements would work for the puzzle aspect. Or, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig

I believe The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan also qualifies.

That’s what I’m planning to read. Either that or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Two Across by Jeff Bartsch centres around crossword puzzles.

Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Never heard of it, but it fits, its short, and I'm going to try it.

I loved the Westing Game.
The Flanders Panel has already been suggested involving the game of chess. Another is The Eight by Katherine Neville.

Anyone read The Lying Game? Would it work?

I would think The Maze Runner would work!

Probably going to be reading Warcross for this.

Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

That was the first book I thought of when I saw this prompt! I think that's what I'm going to choose!

I don't know how I stand on the word "game" also including sports, but I read this year for the sports category and I made it my mission to get as many people as possible to read this (middle-grade) novel.

If anybody needs inspiration for a book that is one big puzzle I'll highly recommend The Monarch Papers by C.J Bernstein. I'm currently reading Flora & Fauna (book 1 of 2) and I can't get it out of my mind when I'm not reading. I want to explain what this book is about, but I'm not sure I'm able to.

The description on Goodreads doesn't do it justice, but here's the links anyway

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Tracy wrote: "Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Never heard of it, but it fits, its short, and I'm going to try it."

You have a treat ahead of you! We read this in my 8th grade class (...15 years ago, now O_O) and it was really fun.

Themis wrote: "I think Pachinko would work."

Thank you for that suggestion, I think I will use this, I've heard great things about it.

Kelly wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Never heard of it, but it fits, its short, and I'm going to try it."

You have a treat ahead of you! We read th..."

Oh good to know, Thank you!! I am obsessed with middle Grade fiction so I'm always adding to my collection :-)

Tracy wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Never heard of it, but it fits, its short, and I'm going to try it."

You have a treat ahead of y..."

Don't listen to The Westing Game on audio. I made that mistake last year.

funny enough my 5th grade son just bought a book called The Gauntlet that will work perfectly for this.

The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa, definitely!

SarahKat wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Never heard of it, but it fits, its short, and I'm going to try it."

You have a tr..."


Thanks :-)

I try and avoid audio unless Im desperately behind on challenges. It goes in one ear and out the other :-(

The Hunger Games
The Maze Runner
Jumanji
Zathura

I'm going to take a bit of a tangential on this and read The Scorch Trials

Linda wrote: "Would The Westing Game work for this prompt?"

Yes! I love that book!

Curtain - Poirot's last case, involves a crossword puzzle.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays - has a literary scavenger hunt as part of its plot. A good read, enjoyed it a lot.

Other ideas:

Pale Fire
Black Chalk - or any Yates actually.
Fingersmith

Perhaps more of a stretch - books that the entire plot is a puzzle:
Cloud Atlas
Remainder
Fight Club

Codes, ciphers, puzzles, written clues:
Postern of Fate - Dame Agatha again.
The Valley of Fear - Sherlock
The Name of the Rose
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Magpie Murders
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

Card games...The Queen of Spades came to mind.

Click Here to Start is both about a boy obsessed with point-and-click video games, and about a grandfather planning a real-life puzzle for the boy to solve. So it should work I think.

There are some puzzles embedded in S., also known as Ship of Theseus - if you want something a bit challenging!

The Impossible Fortress is about a teenage boy designing a video game for a contest in the 80s. Apparently, you can even play the game on the author's website.

These haven't been mentioned yet!

The Game of Love and Death - Set during the Great Depression, Love and Death toys with the lives of two unwitting humans in their centuries-old wager.

Ender's Game - Classic YA sci-fi. Tackles some moralistic issues in a very thought-provoking way.

I was originally thinking of reading LJ Smith's The Forbidden Game for this but am now leaning towards Warcross. I'm also wondering if one of the Caraval books would work.

Grandmaster is a great book about chess.

Raquel wrote: "Qualify looks like the only one from my already owned TBR that 'qualifies' for this prompt.

If I end up hating that, maybe The Supernatural Enhancements would work..."

I loved The Supernatural Enhancements, and I think it certainly qualifies for this prompt. I hope you like it too!

I've already read it, but Mr. Penumbra's bookstore would fit this prompt, if you haven't read it yet. Good book.

Yay! Great prompt for finally reading Wildcard..

I am excited to read Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II for this prompt