Sheri’s Comments (group member since Jul 25, 2016)

Sheri’s comments from the EPBOT Readers group.

Welcome Deborah!

Usually at the beginning you can figure out a way to get most books to fit into popsugar. :) Also, the challenge is meant to be fun, so stretching the definition of the prompt is allowable, especially if it's a way to make an unappealing one work better for you.

Also welcome all the other new folks, sorry this thread is getting big! :) So glad to see more conversation!

So glad to see so many new people posting! Welcome everyone :)

Sara, I know how you feel about the graphic novels. For me, I post them to GR but only as the trades, not the individual comics. (for ones i follow as they go along, I just wait until the trade is out and add them). But that's partly why I set my reading goal to 175 this year, with the knowledge that I have a huuuge backlog of comics i want to read. So I'm hoping to get through a bunch of them this year, around my reading challenges.

Jenn, that’s no problem! We just like talking about books so any discussion is welcome!

I love Harry Potter, I should work in another re read this year since I didn’t have time last year.

Jessica,
I read Binti at the end of last year, it was really good. Also really short, i think only 96 pages or something like that. I just got the second one, hoping to fit it in somewhere along the way. If nothing else, just for fun.

Also yeah, I thought about reading 1984 for the read harder "book you didn't finish in school/book you hated from school" but decided that I can't deal with it right now. So I think I'm going to end up on Heart of Darkness because it's the only book I didn't finish in school, aside from Great Expectations which I had permission to only read cliffs notes. (ran out of time to reasonably expect students to finish it, and after reading the first two chapters i decided to take the reprieve)

Welcome Kathy!

That book sounds fun, and I like Scalzi. I'll have to see if I can find it!

Susan, I'll have to see if I can find Eliza And Her Monsters since you all seem to like it so much.

Hi everyone, going to try to revive the book club now that it's past the holidays!

Since the thread way of adding suggestions didn't generate much results, I'm going back to the google spreadsheet. I deleted all the past suggestions, so as to not limit people to those, or confuse the issue. the red highlighted ones are books we've read already.

If the spreadsheet just isn't working for you, go ahead and put a suggestion in this thread, and I'll try to compile them together during the selection.

If there's two or more books tied, or within a vote or two of each other, I'll go ahead and make a poll.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Hi everyone! Welcome to a new year of check ins!

Welcome any new members who decide to join in this year! (hopefully there are some!)

This week is a little weird since it covers the end of the year AND the start of the new year.

I finished off the old year with some comic catching up and just a quick next-series book. So I read Fables Deluxe Edition Book 2 , Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop, and Sex Criminals, Vol. 3: Three the Hard Way . Fables is a bit of a slow start, this book the plot finally started picking up. I'll get the next one eventually. Sex Criminals sounds ridiculous on paper, and it is kind of. But it's actually really good, and takes a look at relationships, how they change when the rush of sex wears off, how mental illness and other health issues can affect sex drive and relationships, looks into asexuality etc. The writer in the back of the book comments how our society really doesn't like to be open about sex, even though it's something that a good portion of it engages in. And even those who don't, still have to navigate the expectations of others. So yeah it's full of a lot of sex jokes and goofiness, but it does have a point beyond being taboo.

To start off the new year, and the reading challenge, I finished The Snow Child which is my popsugar book with a weather element in the title. It's also counting for Around The Year as "prompt that almost made the cut", book set in the winter/snowy weather. (Trying to double dip across challenges as much as is feasible without too much of a stretch). I liked it ok, but not as much as I'd expected to. I think it just was less of a fairy tale than I wanted.

Currently I'm reading Ancillary Sword which is part of a trilogy that i started last year. I think i'm counting it for book set on another planet. But it could also work for the next book in a series you've already started, or a favorite previous prompt (non human perspective).

What challenges are people doing this year? (if any). How do you decide what prompts you want to tackle first?

For me, it tends to be reliant a lot on the library. I read library books first, since there's a time limit. I'd actually put Snow Child on my list just because I wanted to read it, but since it came up so close to the end of the year I turned my wifi off to read it this week. Ancillary Sword came up just before the new year as well, so that became book two. After that, I'll probably read a few books that I bought recently, with the challenge in mind. (at least until more library holds come up).

Once I get caught up on stuff I for sure planned to read, I generally try to mix it up between prompts that I really am not excited about and ones that I am, so that I don't have a bunch of lame ones all at the end, but also so I don't get bummed out reading too much that I don't love right in a row.

Happy reading everyone!

Great list! Good job on finishing!

Alexa, cool! Good luck in the challenge!

Congratulations Sarah! That’s awesome!

I totally get wanting a break from challenges. They can be fun but also stressful if you end up skipping too many books you want to read but don’t fit.

Still keep posing though! It’s fun to talk about what we’re reading, even if it’s not “for” anything.

1) A book published posthumously
2) A book of true crime
3) A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance)
4) A comic written and illustrated by the same person
5) A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)
6) A book about nature
7) A western
8) A comic written or illustrated by a person of color
9) A book of colonial or postcolonial literature
10) A romance novel by or about a person of color
11) A children’s classic published before 1980
12) A celebrity memoir
13) An Oprah Book Club selection
14) A book of social science
15) A one-sitting book
16) The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series
17) A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author
18) A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image
19) A book of genre fiction in translation
20) A book with a cover you hate
21) A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author
22) An essay anthology
23) A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60
24) An assigned book you hated (or never finished)

Prompt list for Around The Year In Books

1. A book with the letters A, T & Y in the title
2. A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read list
3. A book from the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards (link)
4. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #1 Earth (in title, cover, content, setting, author...)
5. A book about or inspired by real events
6. A book originally written in a language other than English
7. A gothic novel
8. An "own voices" book*
9. A book with a body part in the title (heart, bones, teeth, skin, blood, etc)
10. An author's debut book (their first book to be published)
11. A literary fiction
12. A book set in Africa or South America
13. A book with a plot centered around a secret (forbidden love, spies, secret societies, etc)
14. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #2 Fire
15. A book with an unique format/writing structure
16. A narrative nonfiction
17. A book you expect to make you laugh
18. A book with a location in the title
19. A book nominated for the Edgar Award or by a Grand master author (books & authors)
20. A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends
21. A book written in first person perspective
22. A book you have high expectations or hope for
23. A medical or legal thriller
24. A book with a map
25. A book with an antagonist/villain point of view
26. A book with a text only cover

27. A book about surviving a hardship (war, famine, major disasters, serious illness, etc)
28. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #3 Water
29. A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title (lead pipe, revolver, rope, candlestick, dagger, wrench)
30. A short book
31. A book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to
32. An alternate history book
33. A book connected (title, cover, content) to a word "born" in the same year as you (link)
34. A suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call (link)
35. A book featuring a murder
36. A book published in the last 3 years (2016, 2017, 2018) by an author you haven't read before
37. A Women's Prize for Fiction winner or nominee (link1, link2)
38. A science book or a science fiction book
39. A book with a form of punctuation in the title
40. A book from Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list (link)
41. A book by an author with the same first and last initials
42. A book that takes place on, in, or underwater
43. A book with a title that is a whole sentence
44. A ghost story
45. A book that intimidates/ scares you
46. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #4 Air
47. A book where the main character (or author) is of a different ethnic origin, religion, or sexual identity than your own
48. A book related to one of the 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth)
49. A book from one of the Goodreads Best Books of the Month lists (link)
50. A book with a warm atmosphere (centered on family, friendship, love or summer)
51. An award-winning short story or short story collection
52. A book published in 2018

Making some prompt lists for people who want to do various challenges so people don't have to go hunting :)

Regular list
1) A book made into a movie you've already seen
2) True Crime
3) The next book in a series you started
4) A book involving a heist
5) Nordic noir
6) A novel based on a real person
7) A book set in a country that fascinates you
8) A book with a time of day in the title
9) A book about a villain or antihero
10) A book about death or grief
11) A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym
12) A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist
13) A book that is also a stage play or musical
14) A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
15) A book about feminism
16) A book about mental health
17) A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
18) A book by two authors
19) A book about or involving a sport
20) A book by a local author
21) A book with your favorite color in the title
22) A book with alliteration in the title
23) A book about time travel
24) A book with a weather element in the title
25) A book set at sea
26) A book with an animal in the title
27) A book set on a different planet
28) A book with song lyrics in the title
29) A book about or set on Halloween
30) A book with characters who are twins
31) A book mentioned in another book
32) A book from a celebrity book club
33) A childhood classic you've never read
34) A book that's published in 2018
35) A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
36) A book set in the decade you were born
37) A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to
38) A book with an ugly cover
39) A book that involves a bookstore or library
40) Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges
Advanced List
41) A bestseller from the year you graduated high school
42) A cyberpunk book
43) A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
44) A book tied to your ancestry
45) A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title
46) An allegory
47) A book by an author with the same first or last name as you
48) A microhistory
49) A book about a problem facing society today
50) A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

Hi everyone!

Last check in of the year! Can't believe it went by already!

This week I finished Destiny: Child of the Sky which is the final book of the first arc of the Symphony of ages. There's another 3 books I think i need to read before I get into the new books I haven't read yet. I think i'm taking a break for now, and will work the rest of the re-reads in around next year's challenge.

To finish out the year I decided to read some of the comic trades I picked up at various comic shops this year and never got around to reading. So I read How to Talk to Girls at Parties and Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside

Currently I'm reading Fables Deluxe Edition Book 2

Is everyone looking forward to next year's challenges? I'm doing three next year. Probably crazy, but we'll see how it goes. My plan is to double and triple count books across the three where I can. I won't double dip in the same challenge, but I will across them.

I'm doing Popsugar, Around The Year in Books and Read Harder. I think I'll make a new challenge folder for next year and I'll add the various prompts if anyone's interested.

Happy reading everyone!

Haha you caught me, I did forget to answer my own question.

I read a lot of good books, i think a few of my favorites were My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry which I thought was a really great story of found family, wrapped up with some fantastical storytelling. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body was really hard to read, but was fantastic. America in particular has a real problem with people hating and judging fat people, and I know I've had my own share of uncharitable thoughts at time. It was really eye opening to get someone's story of how she ended up at that weight, and the continual struggle she has with her body, her emotions, dealing with other people, her own family etc. There were others, but i'll leave it there

Woah, week 51 check in ! One week left of the year! Hope everyone's coming to a satisfying point in their yearly reading, either finishing challenges or just finishing out the year with some good books.

This week I finished Prophecy: Child of Earth which is the second book of the symphony of ages.

I started Destiny: Child of the Sky which is the third book, which completes the first arc of the series. I think I'll push through and finish this one, and then take a break so I can start the year with some challenge reading. Once a get a few books for that under my belt, I can go back to getting through the next couple books.

How's everyone's reading going? What was your favorite book that you read this year?

Jessica, Good luck on hitting the goal!

Hi everyone! Getting down to the end of the year here, I can't believe it! Winter has definitely arrived here in Michigan. So much snow yesterday.

I haven't had as much reading time lately due to endlessly working on Christmas cards. But mine are almost done, just need to write on them and send them out!

So I'm alllmoooost finished with Rhapsody: Child of Blood (By almost I mean i'm down to 100 pages, but when you're over 600 pages that counts).

I'm dubious if I can finish the rest of the series (or at least the re-read parts) before the end of the year considering they're all over 700 pages. But I might be able to knock at least a couple out.

I'm kind of annoyed goodreads always posts the year in books so early! I still have two more weeks of reading, I can knock out at least a couple more ;)

How's everyone's reading going?

Stephanie,

I'll have to check out the Eliza one, that sounds fun!

I really liked both the Martian movie, and the Martian book so I think you're safe enough. I'd say the book is a little dryer just because it goes more in-depth into the math/science parts. But Wattney is still the same sort of personality, so the profanity and self depreciation keeps it readable. But it's a pretty straightforward adaption so i don't think you'll be upset, if you liked the movie!

Stupidest Angel was ok, I don't think I loved it as much as everyone over in Popsugar did. I do like Christopher Moore in general, but honestly of all his books, the Pine Cove ones are my least favorites. I didn't love Practical Demonkeeping or The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove either. (Bloodsucking Fiends and Sacre Bleu are my favorites of his, for the record)

Also I realized I forgot to mention I'm currently reading Rhapsody: Child of Blood which is a re-read for me. I'm trying to get through the ones I've read already, so I can read the two new ones I got at Powells. I first read it back in college which is longer ago than I really want to consider, so it's not very fresh in my mind anymore.

Hi everyone,

Year's almost over! How's everyone's challenges coming, if you were working on any?

I'm looking forward to the next round! I think next year I'm going to do both Pop Sugar, and Around the Year in books. I might do Read Harder, but the prompt list hasn't been posted yet. I'll see how I like them. Doing more than one challenge, I allow myself to count books multiple times for different challenges. So one book can't apply to two prompts in the same challenge, but can apply to prompts in all 3 challenges if they work.

This week I was mostly catching up on comics. I finished The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror and then moved on to trying to clear my ipad off.

So i read Wynonna Earp, Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars which were not very good. Glad I didn't read them before I watched the show, or I might have skipped the show entirely. Usually I get annoyed when shows don't follow the source material beyond the name, in this case it was a good thing. I also read Wynonna Earp Volume 1: Homecoming but it was pretty lackluster. It's supposed to be based off the TV show but it wasn't clear where int he timeline it took place. They added a bunch of new characters, and the existing characters didn't really feel like they do in the show.

Xena: Warrior Princess, Volume 1: All Roads i think I'd have enjoyed this more if I knew more about xena. I didn't expect it to rely so much on past knowledge.

Babyteeth Volume 1 - This was super creepy and weird and kind of absurd, but I liked it. I'll probably continue.

Also kept up with a lot of ongoing titles, reading individual issues.

How's everyone doing?