Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A Book That Features a Character with Chronic Pain

Wow. I know I have read books with just such a main character...
What Katy Did (Carr Family #1) by Susan Coolidge
Published in 1872. The first in a series. I thought it was well written and an enjoyable read.
Brace for Impact by Gabe Montesanti
A phenomenally written autobiography of a roller derby player dealing with devastatingly unique and complex fractures of the leg.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A classic that everyone should read, IMHO! If you haven't yet, here is the perfect opportunity!

Listopia is HERE

Since they RUDELY disallowed books about dragons for the "magical creatures" category, I think I will slot the third Empyrean book here. Onyx Storm The protagonist has the same syndrome that the author has, and it involves chronic pain.

All's Well by Mona Awad features a protagonist with chronic pain due to an injury. It's amazing and weird. If you liked Bunny, it's the same author.

The Fallen Gods trilogy by Hannah Kaner has a main character who suffers from chronic pain due to an amputation. The last book Faithbreaker is out next year so that's probably what I'll use for this prompt, but I also have Iron Flame still to read.

Grace wrote: "All's Well by Mona Awad features a protagonist with chronic pain due to an injury. It's amazing and weird. If you liked Bunny, it's the same author."


Oh good one - the book opens with her stuck lying on her back in her office because her back hurts!

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

Nadine in NY wrote: "Grace wrote: "All's Well by Mona Awad features a protagonist with chronic pain due to an injury. It's amazing and weird. If you liked Bunny, it's the same author."


Oh good one - the book opens wi..."

Yes! And it's quite an authentic portrayal of a woman dealing with chronic pain. Doctor's don't believe her or downplay her pain. I read it when I was going through a similar ordeal (still have some pain but it's not chronic). It was too real.

I've wanted to read What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt for a while. My brother has Crohn's and he experiences pain regularly.

Seven Days in June was one of my favorite books I read this year and one of the protagonists has chronic migraines. One of my fave contemporary romances for sure.

I also did a quick google and this reddit thread has a lot of suggestions!: https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggesti...

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a romance where the FMC has chronic pain.

Only when I step on it by Peter Conti

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Kaz has chronic pain.

Baby Teeth, the mother has Crohn's and is in chronic pain/illness

Theoretically I should be glad that chronic pain sufferers are getting recognition. But I'm not looking forward to this one.

Having chronic pain is freaking exhausting, and I don't really want to read about it most of the time. Especially when you feel like yours isn't "bad enough" to complain about, but you still are constantly aware of it and it affects everything.

I'll have to choose the right mood to not get frustrated.

If you like old-school fantasy from the 1980s, check out Dragonlance. It's an ensemble cast (think adventuring party), and Raistline Majere has constant pain, a sacrifice he made for his magic. Very D&D.

I may reread Autumn Twilight for nostalgia.

All by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

The first trilogy (The Chronicles)
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning

Dragonlance Legends, which is focused on Raistlin and Caramon Majere
Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins

I'm suffering from chronic pain since 27 years. I love this prompt because we need it to be seen and talked about but I haven't got a clue as to what to read for this. Most of the books you've mentioned are not translated into my language (and I've read The Secret Garden) but I still have plenty of time to find something.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Since they RUDELY disallowed books about dragons for the "magical creatures" category, I think I will slot the third Empyrean book here. Onyx Storm The protagonist has the same syn..."

I mean technically you only can't have dragons in one of the 50 prompts... so you could make the other 49 involve dragons. 😁

Margo's Got Money Troubles has a character with chronic pain

Always Only You by Chloe Líese and Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer are both romances with FMCs with chronic pain

The second Eragon book Eldest has 2 characters battling maybe not chronic pain, but persistent and frequent pain.

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal - SciFi spoof/retelling of The Thin Man movies and Dashiell Hammett's book The Thin Man. It's scifi - set in a vacation resort station in outer space and is so much fun - totally enjoyed it. I'm hoping she writes and publishes a sequel in 2025, LOL. Main character Tesla was injured in a test of a new invention that went wrong, and she's partially disabled and in chronic pain. This is lighthearted fun - not dark and dreary and of course being SciFi, they have all kinds of effective methods to manage her pain that anyone with chronic pain can only dream about. Some of them do to a primitive degree exist today.

I like this prompt but I have no idea what I want to read for it. Hench is really good if anyone wants a suggestion. It's on the list.

Denise wrote: "I like this prompt but I have no idea what I want to read for it. Hench is really good if anyone wants a suggestion. It's on the list."




I LOVED Hench!! I don't remember chronic pain. Might it involve a character who will also appear in the sequel Villain that is due this summer (I hope I hope!!)?

I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for the video game prompt and a character has chronic pain.


I Will read The secret garden

I own both The Secret Garden, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I also noted down The Spare Man, after someone mentioned it for this one.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Denise wrote: "I like this prompt but I have no idea what I want to read for it. Hench is really good if anyone wants a suggestion. It's on the list."




I LOVED Hench!! I don't re..."

(view spoiler)[
The main character is injured when she's a bystander at a hero/villain fight and she's had a chronic injury ever since, it was either her back or her leg. She also meets other people who were injured in those kinds of situations. It's a motive for her to work for the villain since she blames the hero, iirc. Look at the summary again, about Anna getting injured, and her suffering, etc. And she seems to be in the next one, yay!
(hide spoiler)]

Denise wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Denise wrote: "I like this prompt but I have no idea what I want to read for it. Hench is really good if anyone wants a suggestion. It's on the list."




I LOV..."




Ohhhhh my gosh how could I forget that crucial plot point??? My brain is a sieve.

37 Questions by June Kaye is coming out on Feb 11th, 2025, and the FMC has fibromyalgia. Her condition is not the story's main focus, although it plays a role in the plot.

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

A few suggestions for this prompt:

*My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
*Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
*The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
*Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I will be reading Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Happy Reading!!!

Keeping it basic with a book I own:

Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First-Person Stories for Today

If anyone is currently reading Throne Of Glass by SJM, I think any of theese would count as one of the characters has a disfigured/painful leg - I’m on KOA, and she’s still in it, so please don’t tell me if she doesn’t make it… 😅 Anyway, I’ll use Kingdom of Ash for this prompt.

Josh Hanson's King's Hill would work great for this prompt.

Edit: Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence doesn't come out until July (it's on NetGalley now), but it would also work for this one.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagahara

The main character in Theory of Bastards has endometriosis, a chronic pain condition. It's character-driven dystopian novel that flew under the radar when it came out, but I highly recommend it.

Anything with Frida Kahlo would fit this category. Kahlo
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

Emerson wrote: "Anything with Frida Kahlo would fit this category. Kahlo
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait"



She is a character in The Lacuna too. (Not the MAIN character, but she shows up a lot.)

Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg would also work for this.

Carve the Mark was one of the first books I read in which the main character had chronic pain and that stuck out to me. If you like sci-fi/ya, I would recommend.

Kenya wrote: "Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses"

Yes! So, so good! My recommendation as well.

The The Bone Houses feature a character in chronic pain and, I think, so does it's follow up. The Drowned Woods

I read Time and Time Again last year for a different challenge and one of the main characters has chronic pain. Actually both have main characters have disabilities.

In The Girls I've Been and The Girl in Question a prominent character suffers from endometriosis. I really enjoyed this series.

Needful Things by Stephen king

National Book Critics Circle Award nominees are up and include a memoir/nonfiction/nature/eco-lit title whose author and main character suffers from chronic pain.

The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin

Katherine, a character in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone has chronic pain following a leg injury in a road accident.

I liked the style of this and its take on golden age crime - there is the closed circle of family marooned in the snow for a starter. A little confusing at times and a bit too dark to be a 'cosy crime' book. A book I wanted to read again when I'd finished to pick up all the clues!

Theresa wrote: "The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal - SciFi spoof/retelling of The Thin Man movies and Dashiell Hammett's book The Thin Man. It's scif..."

I wound up reading The Spare Man, and really enjoyed it. Mystery, humor, an adorable dog named Gimlet, and an interesting approach to gender and pronouns:

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

I'm currently reading Liars, and the protagonist has an unspecified autoimmune disease. She doesn't mention pain specifically, but I think it's safe to assume chronic pain is involved.

The author, Sarah Manguso, has been quite public about having Chronic Idiopathic Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy, which can cause temporary paralysis among other things, and sounds painful to me!

I just finished The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones. One of the main characters suffers from pain, due to a shoulder injury.

Finished Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

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

I’d love a recommendation where the character has chronic pain, but the vibe isn’t necessarily depressing. Current mood just isn’t up for dreary. Not to be insensitive. Just protecting my own hormonal mental health :)

I read The Spare Man for space tourism, and I’ve read the Cormoran Strike series so anything along those lines is fine. Where the pain is chronic and can be involved in the story but does not get into my soul…

DeeRae wrote: "I’d love a recommendation where the character has chronic pain, but the vibe isn’t necessarily depressing. Current mood just isn’t up for dreary. Not to be insensitive. Just protecting my own hormo..."

I read Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, which has a character suffering pain from an old injury.

Currently reading The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now .

It has a kid who had a rare genetic disorder and had to take medication constantly so I would classify that as 'chronic'.

I just read an advanced copy of Holly's Jackson Not Quite Dead Yet (expected publication July 17, 2025) and the main character has chronic pain. Great book if you like a mystery.