Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A Book That Features an Unlikely Friendship

I love these kinds of books! Some I can heartily recommend:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Stargirl (Stargirl #1) by Jerry Spinelli
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
The Story of Arthur Truluv (Mason #1) by Elizabeth Berg
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro

Goodreads Listopia to help:
Books Featuring Unlikely Friendships

Listopia is HERE

I think this is the perfect prompt for James

Dubhease wrote: "I think this is the perfect prompt for James"

Perfect! I've been wanting to read that one, and already had several books set in/on the water.

I've never read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (I've only heard about it) so I'm going to read James, which is a retelling of it.

The Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship- for a nonfiction option!

News of the World

Going basic here with:

Catching Fire

I've read these books before but with CF we really get that unlikely friendship with Peeta & Katniss. It's one of those stories of 'had this never happened they wouldn't have become friends'.

I think might read Pizza Girl or The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise for this one.

Some others that would work are:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride
Tuesdays with Morrie

I will be reading The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult


HAPPY READING!!

How to Read a Book

The Adventures of Milo and Otis by Mark Saltzman. Also fits the 'under 250 words' prompt

Probably a lot of people here have already read it, but I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which would definitely fit here.

Rachel wrote: "Probably a lot of people here have already read it, but I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which would definitely fit here."

I love that book. One of my favorites.

Thinking laterally and trying to clear my physical TBR pile, I'm going for Srimad Bhagavadgita: with English Translation and Transliteration # 1411. My reasoning is that the central friendship is unlikely in two separate ways: it's a friendship between a god and a human charioteer, and in the battle that's approaching, the god is on the opposite side to important members of the charioteer's family.

I just remembered that last year I read When the Angels Left the Old Country, which would be perfect for this prompt! It's about a friendship between an angel and a demon who study Torah together in their Polish shtetl. When a young woman from there goes missing, they travel to New York together to search for her. It's a very moving book.

I read The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. The blurb reads "Geeta's no-good husband disappeared five years ago. She didn't kill him, but everyone thinks she did--no matter how much she protests.

But she soon discovers that being known as a "self-made" widow has some surprising perks. No one messes with her, no one threatens her, and no one tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It's even been good for her business; no one wants to risk getting on her bad side by not buying her jewelry.

Freedom must look good on Geeta, because other women in the village have started asking for her help to get rid of their own no-good husbands...but not all of them are asking nicely."

I read How to Read a Book

"Now or Never: 31 on the Run" by Janet Evanovich

I was kind of struggling with this prompt for a bit.

Then as I thought it over I realized the 'Roswell High' books by Melinda Metz would be perfect.

From the backstories of the shows and the books, it's pretty clear that the pod squad (the aliens) wouldn't have become friends with this particular set of humans had Max not revealed his secret to Liz when she got shot.

That being said, I'll be starting with this book:


The Vanished

Mom Jeans Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin seems cute and fits the promptish. Opposite attracts bff vibes.

I read Better with Butter (goat friendship lol). My son read it took, and it seemed like a good fit for us both.

I read The Hunter. 5 stars

I originally read Pizza Girl after seeing a review calling it an unlikely friendship. After reading it, I would not call it that....not even close.

Thankfully it was a short book and I moved it to the under 250 prompt and read Alice and Gabby's Excellent Adventure instead. It was surprisingly fun little mix of body swapping and time travel.

I just read Sweet Bean Paste and thought it was delightful. It would work well for this prompt - an elderly Japanese woman befriends a confectioner despite his initial discomfort with her disability and fears about his customers' reactions to it.

I figured Percival Everett's "James" would be be good for this prompt, since it has the unlikely friendship between Huck and James, but it's about so much more than that:

http://www.lauraruthloomis.com/whats-...

Laura Ruth wrote: "I figured Percival Everett's "James" would be be good for this prompt, since it has the unlikely friendship between Huck and James, but it's about so much more than that:

http://www.lauraruthloomi..."




That's the book I read for this category, and after I read it, I realized it wasn't really a good fit, but I used it anyway.

Nadine in NY wrote: "That's the book I read for this category, and after I read it, I realized it wasn't really a good fit, but I used it anyway

http:/..."

I felt the same way. The unlikely friendship was a piece of the story, but not really what the book was about.

I'm using A Strange and Stubborn Endurance for this one. Protagonist Vel has an unlikely friendship with his best friend Markel. But the friendship that develops between the male leads is also unlikely given world expectations.
Markel means I can use the second book for a nonverbal character, too.

I was going to read another book, but I was in the middle of The Rest Is Silence by James R. Benn and realized that a Polish aristocrat and a Boston cop in WWII met and became friends in unusual circumstances.

I am currently reading by Monica Wood.