2022 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge- Update!

For the past 8 years, Pop Sugar has put out its annual reading challenge. The challenge provides 40 prompts for finding books to fit (i.e. a book with silverware on the cover). It is up to you to decide how the book fits.It is a great way to connect with other readers and people who love books! This year’s challenge is up! You can find it here.

A book with a palindromic title: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
3 Stars

A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise a plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

A book by a Pacific Islander author: The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
4 Stars

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across time, world, myth, and imagination. But her father’s mission has consumed him, possibly at the cost of Nix’s life.

A book featuring a man-made disaster: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
5 Stars

A collection of personal essays discussing the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and biodiversity.

A book with a misleading title: All’s Well by Mona Awad
3 Stars

Miranda’s life is a nightmare. The accident that ended her career has left her with chronic pain and dependence on painkillers. Determined to put on All’s Well That Ends Well, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead. That is until she meets three strange benefactors, and she realizes the show must go on.

A book about a “found family”: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
3 Stars

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through shadows, tumbling down rabbit holes, and emerging somewhere else. What happens to these children when they return?

A book with a character on the ace spectrum: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
4 Stars

Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships, but her friend does. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after would require proof, leading her to kiss the first man she sees. None other than Dr. Adam Carlson – hotshot professor and well-known ass.

A book you know nothing about: The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins
4 Stars

When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs a revolt. In an act of desperation, the king declares that the one who kills the creature will win the ultimate prize: his daughter’s hand in marriage. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ “The Singing Bone”

A book that features two languages: Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
3 Stars

Set in Hawai’i during the early 1900s, this story follows the life of Rachel Kalama, a Hawaiian girl who dreams of visiting far-off lands. Those dreams are put on hold when she is discovered to have leprosy and is sent to quarantine at Kalaupapa to live out her life.

A book about a non-patriarchal society: The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
2 Stars

This dystopic feminist revenge fantasy is about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men. King has staked out for his wife and three daughters. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world. But when their father disappears and strange men wash ashore their life is torn upside down.

A different book by an author you read in 2021: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
4 Stars

Book 4 in the Stormlight Archive. After forming a coalition of human resistance, Dalinar and the Knights Radiant spent a year of fight in a brutal war. Neither side has gained ground and the threat of betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally looms over every move.