Erica’s Comments (group member since Apr 05, 2019)

Erica’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

While there are some prompts I'm not looking forward to this list shows that Popsugar put effort and cares about the challenge. Besides a challenge being challenging is not really a problem.😉
Did anyone look throught the books they recommended for each prompt? I was happy to see them promoting many books that are being banned.

1 A book with the word "leap" in the title
2 A bildungsroman book
3 A book about a 24-year-old
4 A book about a writer
5 A book about K-pop
6 A book about pirates
7 A book about women's sports and/or by a woman athlete
8 A book by a blind or visually impaired author
9 A book by a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing author
10 A book by a self-published author
11 A book from a genre you typically avoid
12 A book from an animal's POV
13 A book originally published under a pen name
14 A book recommended by a bookseller
15 A book recommended by a librarian
16 A book set 24 years before you were born
17 A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list
18 A book set in space
19 A book set in the future
20 A book set in the snow
21 A book that came out in a year that ends with "24"
22 A book that centers on video games
23 A book that features dragons
24 A book that takes place over the course of 24 hours
25 A book that was published 24 years ago (2000)
26 A book that was turned into a musical
27 A book where someone dies in the first chapter
28 A book with a main character who's 42 years old
29 A book with a neurodivergent main character
30 A book with a one-word title you had to look up in a dictionary
31 A book with a title that is a complete sentence
32 A book with an enemies to lovers plot
33 A book with an unreliable narrator
34 A book with at least 3 POVs
35 A book with magical realism
36 A book written by an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person
37 A book written during NaNoWriMo
38 A cozy fantasy book
39 A fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author
40 A horror book by a BIPOC author
41 A memoir that explores queerness
42 A nonfiction book about Indigenous people
43 A second-chance romance
44 An autobiography by a woman in rock 'n' roll
45 An LGBTQ+ romance novel
46 A book in which a character sleeps for more than 24 hours
47 A book with 24 letters in the title
48 A collection of at least 24 poems
49 The 24th book of an author
50 A book that starts with the letter "X"


0/50

Well I already have to read two cozy fantasys, and magical realism so what's one more prompt with a genre I avoid. Watch I'll read four 5 star books. 🤣

I'm looking forward to this prompt. I enjoy Kpop. I'll probably read XOXO but not sure what prompt I'll use it for. I can always read the BTS book that came out recently.

Christina Lauren are big BTS fans and keep thanking them in the acknowledgements. Their most recent book The True Love Experiment has the main character a fan of a band, BTS, and goes to their concert. For those who want to bend the prompt.

Happy check-in! I'm excited for list day tomorrow and then a read-a-thon starting on Saturday!
I ended up celebrating thanksgiving this past weekend and I actually did the turkey for once. I definitely need more practice. It was over cooked so no one had to worry and people did eat it so it's far from the worst thing I've ever made. 🤣

@Nadine and others sorry there was no sneak peak.

Finished Reading:

The Brothers Hawthorne ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I tried to read this when it first came out in August but the characters were so annoying to start. I tried it again and got past the annoying stage to the mystery/puzzles and it was good fun.

City of Glass ⭐⭐⭐
Reread. Clary was less annoying this time round because I knew where the story was going. Now I can get to reading the rest of this series.

PS 50/50
ATY 52/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 259/250

Currently Reading:

Cold Curses

QOTW:
After the underwhelming surprise of the theme/repeat prompts, there were some good new ideas: nanowrimo, fanfiction, divorce, and fat lead romance. I too learned about reclaiming the word fat so I think it was a good prompt.

So far I’ve only put two books on my ideas/plan shelf for next year’s challenges. The aty list is out so I found two books for hard prompts but other than that I’m not avoiding any books just because they could work for prompts. I’ll do more planning once popsugar is out because it’s my first priority for challenges.

I start my 2024 challenges January first. Yes I’ve completed this year’s challenge but I’m glad to have a little break from all my challenges.

Anyone think there will be a romantasy prompt?

Happy Thursday and Turkey Day!
We're actually celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend because there ended up being a covid issue for Canadian Thanksgiving so the turkey is out of the freezer and thawing now.

I read a lot of short things this past week and somehow a chunk of it was social horror. I have now reached my goodreads reading goal.

Finished Reading:

System Collapse ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I don't think Martha Wells can write enough Murderbot! I really want to be able to watch Sanctuary Moon, anyone else?

Something, Someday ⭐⭐⭐
Amanda Gorman's new picture book. This is all about starting small to make a real difference for the climate/planet.

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen ⭐⭐⭐
Mindless ya fantasy. It was an ode to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 7 Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 8 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I need the library to send me some more.

Mr. Villain's Day Off 01 ⭐⭐⭐
What an odd way to talk about self care. Mr. Villain refuses to do anything work related on his days off. Instead he tries new foods and develops an obsession with pandas and other cute animals.

Everything is Fine Volume One: A WEBTOON Unscrolled Graphic Novel ⭐⭐
I did the thing where I just picked a graphic novel from the library without paying attention to what it's about. It didn't work out for me. ;) Anyway this is very sparse horror, it ended well but most of the book was boring.

The Scourge Between Stars ⭐⭐
I wanted to like this more. I don't know why I was shocked that a book that is set in space and is in the horror genre would have aliens.

Comfort Me with Apples ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is short and I was getting annoyed/bored until near the end, until the point of the story really becomes clear and it was quite clever. More social horror.

PS 50/50
ATY 52/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 257/250

Currently Reading:
City of Glass I read the first 3 books of this series years ago and got stalled. Since the tv show and graphic novels I decided to try the series from the beginning again last year. Next month the 7th graphic novel is to be published which corresponds with book 4 and I'm behind.

QOTW:
I'm more panster than planner. I do go through the prompts and make a shelf for possible books, although I've finished this years challenge and my ideas shelf still has 50+ books on it and I think I read off 5 at most. Then I list out the prompts and pick books for all the hard prompts. Then when the challenge starts I don't really follow the list. I looked at my reading this year and about half of the things I read were not on my tbr before the start of the year.

Congrats on finally finishing the challenge!

I just entered what the kids are dressed as into the goodsreads search engine and was able to figure it out.

If that’s cheating to you, think about their costumes and a different connector than fighting.

I don’t understand the point of a sneak peak when it comes to this challenge. A sneak peak isn’t going to increase interest just post the whole list if it’s ready.

I’m simultaneously excited/impatient for the new prompts on the first and the aty read-a-thon on the second while not wanting it to be closer to Christmas because I haven’t even started gift shopping.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Erica wrote: "Anyway three left: the bin, romance shelf, and three kids with train books. The romance shelf clue should be Book Lovers...."



For the romance, [spoilers removed] and another clue [..."

I really thought it was People We Meet On Vacation and tried the UK title as well.


Thanks for the hints everyone I've finished it.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Cendaquenta wrote: "Brilliant - completed it now! Literally shouted "oh my GOD" when I finally got the Bestseller table, that was absolutely terrible.

Spent several minutes typing in variations of..."

Well I spent a while trying to find a brexit book for that prompt. Anyway why are there so many (view spoiler)[ poems about trash/rubbish bins? (hide spoiler)]

Anyway three left: the bin, romance shelf, and three kids with train books. The romance shelf clue should be Book Lovers.

Ashley Marie wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Erica wrote: "Iron Flame ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Well the way this one ends there has to be a next book...."

Some women in one of my FB groups were talking about that - they thought it was goin..."

I have to get back to that series, I've just read book one.

Cornerofmadness wrote: "I'm post-op hoping to get some reading done but it's not quite working like that. Still I got a few things read. For the prompt A #BookTok recommendation I didn't go with what I had planned with (d..."

Glad to hear you through surgery on to the healing stage. Hopefully you're able to read soon.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Erica wrote: "Iron Flame ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Well the way this one ends there has to be a next book...."



Some women in one of my FB groups were talking about that - they thought it was going to be a duology b..."

Thanks for the heads up that there's going to be five books.

Happy check-in! Thanks for posting the hidden book link! I'm at 10/20 now.
Had a good reading week but now I'm in a hole waiting for the next book in a series. A good problem to have.

Finished Reading:

Fourth Wing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reread before reading the book two. It still was entertaining.

Iron Flame ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Well the way this one ends there has to be a next book. I don't like some things that happened but it's still a good story. I think some of the things that people said were plot holes in book one got addressed in this one.
When I went and got this book the bookseller had to double check there was a page 34. Apparently there have been misprints and the special editions people preordered have ink rubbing off.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 5 Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 6 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A solid manga series.

DNF:

The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
It was just too depressing and I let myself nope it.

PS 50/50
ATY 52/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 248/250

Currently Reading:

System Collapse

QOTW:

I don't really admire characters but I do admire Holly Black for creating Jude in the Folk Of The Air Series. Jude is a very ambitious young woman that doesn't lose any ambition just because she falls in love, this is not the norm in ya.

Ooh so distracted by hidden books. I’ve got 6 so far. I’ll have to post my checkin later. 😁