Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A book that fills your favorite prompt from the 2015 PS Reading Challenge.

This one is WIDE OPEN, it's almost a wild card category! Will you pick a category first and then pick a book, or will you leave this open to fit in a book that doesn't fit anywhere else?


Here is a very abbreviated version of the 2015 list, from my notes:
1 More than 500 pages
2 Classic romance
3 Became a movie
4 Published in 2015
5 Number in the title
6 Written by someone under 30
7 Nonhuman characters
8 Funny
9 Female author
10 Mystery or thriller
11 One word title
12 Book of short stories
13 Set in a different country
14 Nonfiction
15 Popular author's first book
16 A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet
17 Recommended by a friend
18 Pulitzer Prize winner
19 Based on a true story
20 At the bottom of your to-read list
21 A book your mom loves
22 A book that scares you
23 A book more than 100 years old
24 A book based entirely on its cover
25 A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
26 Memoir
27 A book you can finish in a day
28 Antonyms in the title
29 Set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
30 Published the year you were born
31 A book with bad reviews
32 Trilogy
33 From your childhood
34 A book with a love triangle
35 Set in the future
36 Set in high school
37 Color in the title
38 A book that made you cry
39 Magic
40 Graphic novel
41 Author you've never read before
42 A book you own but never read
43 Hometown
44 Originally written in another language
45 Set during Christmas
46 Written by an author with my initials
47 A Play
48 Banned book
49 Based on or turned into a TV show
50 A book you started but never finished


Because this category is so broad, I don't think a Listopia would be valuable here.

Number 9 should be easy enough.

Karen wrote: "Number 9 should be easy enough."

Lol. I can't believe they thought that was a challenge! How times have changed.

What strikes me about this list is how easy it is! Compared to almost any challenge you find now. There were a few tricky ones but lots of them seem very easy in retrospect.

I think that antonyms in the title will be a fun challenge for me!

I think I'll be doing prompt 16. I'm trying to get through a series that has over 30 books.

I was looking at "a book you started but never finished" and thinking i would have a hard time with that one, as i finish all my books! and then i remembered the canterbury tales

Lots of choices appeal to me! I have so many memoirs on my TBR, that's the likely choice, but I could also go with '"a book you own but have never read" because I have so many of those

I think I'll save this for later when I have a book I want to read but can't find a prompt.

Doing "A book you started but never finished" as it's still listed on my Currently Reading LOL "It's Ok to Not Be Ok" by Megan Devine. It IS one of those books you read at different stages of life, of grief. The beginning of the book is for the immediacy of grief. The end, for the 'journey ahead'. Middle for the how-to guide of loved ones around someone grieving.

I read only what I needed when I bought the book, but haven't finished it 3 years on. It'll be nice to check in with my psychological growth.

Luna wrote: "Doing "A book you started but never finished" as it's still listed on my Currently Reading LOL "It's Ok to Not Be Ok" by Megan Devine. It IS one of those books you read at different stages of life,..."

I am joining you on that one! It might be hard, since I usually only don't finish books that I really don't get into. But apparently years ago I started Where the Crawdads Sing and never finished it. I don't even remember starting it, but Libby says I listened to over an hour and a half of it!

Going with 'book becoming a movie'.

Mockingjay (Part 2) was released in theaters in 2015 and with the release of the new book coming out this year I figure it would be fun to get back into the Hunger Games books.

37 Questions by June Kaye is coming out on Feb 11th, 2025 and fills some of the prompts!

5 Number in the title
9 Female author (writing duo, but it's two female writers)
29 Set somewhere you've always wanted to visit (Nashville, anyone?)
41 Author you've never read before (debut novel)

(full disclaimer: I'm one of the authors! I hope it's ok to suggest my own book here)

2015 had great prompts. I may go with "One word title" or "A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet".

The 2015 list contains a prompt that was repeated a few years ago, "a book by an author with your initials," that I was excited to do but never finished! So I'll be giving Days Without End by Sebastian Barry another shot (my initials are SB).

42. A book you own but never read
I have too many books that fit this prompt lol

I didn't participate in the 2015 PS Reading Challenge...so I just picked the prompt that would of been one of my favorites!!
I went with Prompt #19: A book more than 100 years old: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
First published in October 16, 1847

HAPPY READING!!

I am going with #32 Trilogy as I have a couple that need to be finished.

Lots of good options, but I pre-picked a book I own but haven't read yet as that' part of my reading resolutions for the year - get through at least 40 of those. However, just realized I can look for something that satisfies that and at least one other prompt!

I am a judge for our school district's reading quiz bowl, so I read ten YA books in January and February. I'll probably slot one that doesn't fit into here. I only have six in the challenge so far, so I'll use one for "Author you've never read before".

There was nothing that was automatically "wow!"
I think "A book written by an author with the same initials as you" was the most interesting in 2015, and I've been reading Shirley Jacksons :-D I love her writing, so it's a good one.

I like "A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet" and "A book by an author you've never read before" are nice.

also, "A book from your childhood" is a nice and warm, nostalgic prompt. :-)

"A book by a female author" and "A book more than 100 years old" are easy ones :-D

Crossed this one off - #9 By a Female Author:
Finished and loved The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree and the Golden Water and used it for 'a book with magic. A retelling of a little known story from the Arabian Nights.

I read Kill for Me, Kill for You for #10 - Mystery or Thriller

I read Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today. #14 Nonfiction.

I'm reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito. I read one of his books for the previous reading challenge, and since then I've been hooked. I have chosen the #40 Graphic novel.

I love prompts 9 & 10, so I think this prompt will be reserved for that one book I have to or want to read that does not fit anywhere else. It's nearly a given that the author will be female, and I need good dark mysteries and thrillers for my mental health. That path helps me through PTSD.

Prompt #14 -- non-fiction. I'm going to count Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook.

I read A Separate Peace John Knowles for set in a high school

As I did with the 2024 prompt redo, I decided to pick a book I wanted to read and see how many prompts I could fill with it, prompt bingo if you will.

For Cities of the Dead: The world's most beautiful cemeteries I got 4 and 2 maybes: a book by a female author, a nonfiction book, a book by an author you've never read before, and a book you own but have never read. The two maybes are the locations: a book set in a different country and a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit.