SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone else was attempting the Popsugar 2019 challenge. (LINK)

I'm giving it a shot, with probably no hope of finishing it. They have a group on Goodreads where you can find recs for all the different prompts, but I would really like to keep my choices to Fantasy and Sci Fi. So I thought what better way to find books than to ask this amazing group?

If anyone else is doing the challenge maybe we could help each other find suitable books.

I've already done some of the prompts, but behind the spoiler cut is the full list (with what I have already read filled in.)

(view spoiler)[1 A book becoming a movie in 2019
2 A book that makes you nostalgic
3 A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)
4 A book you think should be turned into a movie
5 A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads
6 A book with a plant in the title or on the cover
7 A reread of a favorite book
8 A book about a hobby
9 A book you meant to read in 2018
10 A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title
11 A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
12 A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore
13 A book published posthumously
14 A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie
15 A retelling of a classic
16 A book with a question in the title
17 A book set on college or university campus
18 A book about someone with a superpower
19 A book told from multiple POVs
20 A book set in space - All Systems Red
21 A book by two female authors
22 A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title
23 A book set in Scandinavia
24 A book that takes place in a single day
25 A debut novel
26 A book that's published in 2019 The Winter of the Witch
27 A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature Catseye
28 A book recommended by a celebrity you admire
29 A book with LOVE in the title
30 A book featuring an amateur detective
31 A book about a family The Cloud Roads
32 A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America
33 A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title
34 A book that includes a wedding The Gospel of Loki
35 A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter
36 A ghost story
37 A book with a two-word title Artificial Condition
38 A novel based on a true story The Things They Carried
39 A book revolving around a puzzle or game
40 Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge (I chose - The next book in a series you started) Rogue Protocol
41 A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book
42 A "choose-your-own-adventure" book
43 An "own voices" book
44 Read a book during the season it is set in
45 A LitRPG book
46 A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters
47 Two books that share the same title
48 Two books that share the same title
49 A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom
50 A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent (hide spoiler)]

I know this group is fantastic with recs, and I appreciate any help!

Wow, that's a daunting list! I will think about it and get back to you!

Well- for book with a question in the title you could check out the TBR 2019 Challenge thread in this group.

My read for that prompt was How Long 'til Black Future Month? and I would definitely recommend it. Thought it was great.

Not sure if you are a fan, but anything by Stephen King works for the musician prompt.

Ready Player One and Otherworld both work for book about a puzzle or a game. There’s also one coming out later this year called: The Lost Puzzler that might work.

I think Anathem by Neal Stephenson probably works for #50. Or Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Michael Crichton has two published post humously but I don’t know about quality: Dragon Teeth and Micro.

I went through my list and here are several SFF options (I’m too lazy to add all the links):
[ ] a book becoming a movie in 2019/ How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell or Knife of Never letting Go by Patrick Ness
[ ] a book with a plant in the title or on the cover/ Annihilation by Jeff Vandimeer

[ ] reread a favorite book/ Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
[ ] a book published posthumously/ Iliad by Homer
[ ] a book with a question in the title/ Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
[ ] a book set on a college or university/ campus/ Gooseberry Bluff by David j Swartz or Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
[ ] a book told from multiple character povs/ Lost Olympian by Rick Riordan
[ ] a book by two female authors/ Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
[ ] a book with a title that contains salty, sweet, bitter, or spicy/ Magic Bitter Magic Sweet by Charlie Holmberg

[ ] a debut novel/ Graceling by Kristin Cashore or Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
[ ] a book published in 2019/ King of Scars by Leigh Bardo
[ ] a book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature/ Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

[ ] a book featuring an amateur detective/ Death Warmed Over by Kevin J Anderson
[ ] a book written by an author from Africa, Asia, or South America/ Zoo City by Lauren Buekes

[ ] a book that includes a wedding/ Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
[ ] a book with an author whose first and last name begins with the same letter/ Circe by Madeline Miller iBook
[ ] a book revolving around a puzzle or game/ Maze Runner by James Dascher

[ ] favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge/ Hobbit Devotional by Ed Strauss Kindle (self improvement)
[ ] an own voices book/ To the Sky Kingdom by Tang Qi Kindle
[ ] a LitRPG book/ Alterworld by D Rus Kindle
[ ] a set in an abby, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or covenant/ Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett iBook

Sea of Rust has chapters labeled in binary code.

The Song of Achilles, Circe, The Silence of the Girls work for retelling of a classic. (I loved both Circe and Silence of the Girls)

Bannerless might work for amateur detective (loved this one too). Infomocracy has a detective of sorts but she’s also doing her job so I’m not sure if she’s considered “amateur”. (Her job is not detective.)

Edited to add: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire would work for a ghost story.

Edited to add again (sorry I’m trying not to leave a million notifications here): The Just City works for books inspired by mythology (also highly recommended).

#1 Pet Sematary or Dune

47 Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
48 Moon Called by Andre Norton

35 anything by C.J. Cherryh

You guys are all super amazing and helpful! I'm so excited to have all these recs for this list!

Book that takes place in a single day: The Test by Sylvain Neuvel sounds like it might work, but I haven’t read it so no guarantee. One that I know takes place in a day (actually one minute) is Long Way Down but it is not SFF (although it sounds like it might also be a ghost story).

Authors on my TBR with same initials: (skipping Madeline Miller and CJ Cherryh which others have mentioned): Vernor Vinge, Robert Reed, Michael McClung, Maya Motayne, SM Stirling, Tade Thompson, Michael Mammay, And Brooke Bolander (The Only Harmless Great Thing was great!).

Books about people with superpowers: The Power, Renegades, The Wolves of Winter and Dreadnought.

Okay. I’ll back away slowly now. Looking at all these books I don’t know why I didn’t just sign up for it myself. I did it last year and almost finished. It was fun- I hope you enjoy it too.

For #42 I quite enjoyed To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure. Silly and irreverent, but still clearly an homage to the source material. I haven't read the follow up yet, Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure.

I'll add the obvious:


#6 Plant on cover: Semiosis (in current scifi poll)
# 10 Pop in the title: Remnant Population (current BR) or The Poppy War (group shelf)
#10 Sugar in the title: Beneath the Sugar Sky (have to read at least Every Heart a Doorway first)
#22 Sweet in the title: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (group shelf)
#23 Set in Scandinavia: Memory of Water (group shelf. but Finland isn't in Scandinavia, although they might still include that?)
#25 Debut: Semiosis, An Excess Male, Six Wakes (group shelf)
#32 Asian/African author: An Excess Male, Nigerians in Space

What IS "Popsugar"?

C. wrote: "What IS "Popsugar"?"

Soda sweetener.

C. wrote: "What IS "Popsugar"?"

I reeaaly annoying upbeat song sung by a prepubescent teenager.

C. wrote: "What IS "Popsugar"?"

Aside from Trike's and Melanie's excellent answers, Popsugar.com is a pop culture news website. I honestly never visit it, but for the past couple of years they have posted this epic reading challenge. I figured this year I would give it a shot.

Anna wrote: "I'll add the obvious:


#6 Plant on cover: Semiosis (in current scifi poll)
# 10 Pop in the title: Remnant Population (current BR) or The Poppy War (gro..."

This is super helpful because I was hoping to find some off the group shelf!

I think you'd really like Becky Chambers.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is her debut (#25), and it's on the group shelf.

Hyperion would be a good fit for #19, and it's also on the group shelf.

11 A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover

a crown is an accessory, correct?
or
a helmet?

I'm doing PopSugar challenge for the first time this year too. I'm sure a lot of my selections will be SFF.

Here's my ideas for some of the challenges, (I've already read some.)
(view spoiler)[
1. A book becoming a movie in 2019The Once and Future King , Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
3. A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction), Seanan McGuire (AKA Mira Grant) is a musician, John Scalzi plays guitar
10. A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title Beneath the Sugar Sky
12. A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore, The Once and Future King
13. A book published posthumously Silmarilion
15. A retelling of a classic The Tea Master and the Detective,
16. A book with a question in the title How Long 'til Black Future Month?
19. A book told from multiple POVs, The whole A Song of Ice and Fire series would work.
20. A book set in space On a Red Station, Drifting, Provenance
22. A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title One Salt Sea
25. A debut novel The Shambling Guide to New York City, by Mur Lafferty.
26. A book that's published in 2019 In an Absent Dream.
28. A book recommended by a celebrity you admire Lud-in-the-Mist, Neil Gaiman recommended this as a classic Fantasy novel in an interview I heard.
35. A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter. Something by Naomi Novik .
31. A book about a family Of Noble Family, by Mary Robinette Kowal.
40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge- 2018 - book with a female author using a male pseudonym Andre Norton, I read Catseye.

41. A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book - I think this Group had a poll for Cli-Fi last year at some point.
(hide spoiler)]

For clifi also check out this thread.

We did Own Voices Fantasy last year (#43), and the recent Afrocentric fantasy would also work for that. There was also Norse Fantasy recently (#23 - set in Scandinavia). There was Detective sci-fi in 2017 (#30 amateur detective).

link to Polls page: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

I'm glad you asked this, I'm getting some good ideas too!

Parable of the Sower was a recent cli-fi pick (the poll was for August 2018).

Both Sower and Parable of the Talents would be appropriate for books about a family as well.

Kristin B. wrote: "C. wrote: "What IS "Popsugar"?"

Aside from Trike's and Melanie's excellent answers, Popsugar.com is a pop culture news website. I honestly never visit it, but for the past couple of years they hav..."

Thank you for explaining Kristin!

You have all made my life so much easier! I knew I loved this group!