2017 Popsugar Challenge checklist: Discussion thread

[Jillian]

For a book set in a hotel, I'm planning on reading The Witches/Roald Dahl and for a cat on the cover one of our Calvin and Hobbes books with my kids.

[Sarah]

Some thoughts/suggestions:

A book about a difficult topic :
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Beloved
Where Women Are Kings
The Shock of the Fall
Under the Udala Trees

A book from a non-human perspective :
The Bees
The Humans
The Art of Racing in the Rain

A book with a cat on the cover :
A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets

A book of letters :
Cartes Postales from Greece
Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable - a slightly different interpretation of "letters"!
84, Charing Cross Road

A book about an interesting woman :
Never Learn to Type: A Woman at the United Nations

A book by an author who uses a pseudonym :
Anything by Elena Ferrante

A book by or about a person who has a disability :
The Secret Garden
Johnny Got His Gun
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

A book set in the wild / a book about an interesting woman :
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

A book about an immigrant or a refugee :
Pigeon English
Where Women Are Kings
The Year of the Runaways
The Reluctant Fundamentalist

An espionage thriller :
Exposure

[Lu]

omg you guys, I twitted Libba Bray asking her to recommend me a book and she twitted back asking me what I was in the mood for <3 I'm so giddy right now!

I'm still missing:
An audiobook (the only one I know and like is Martian Chronicles read by Ray Bradbury, but I heard it for a previous challenge a month ago)
A book that's published in 2017
A book with a red spine (all my books have black or white spines! time to buy more books!)

[Sara]

Sarah wrote: "A book by or about a person who has a disability :
The Secret Garden..."

Ooo...I had forgotten about that! It may be time to reread The Secret Garden :)

[Nadine in NY]

Luciana wrote: "omg you guys, I twitted Libba Bray asking her to recommend me a book and she twitted back asking me what I was in the mood for <3 I'm so giddy right now! ..."

That is very cool! Let us know what she recommends.

[Carl]

For the category "A book involving travel", does it have to be a travel book, or can it be any book in which the characters go on a trip? This is my first time participating in an organized challenge and I'm not sure how loose the interpretations are for this.

[Nadine in NY]

The interpretation can be as loose or as strict as you want it to be! For me, I've decided to interpret it to mean a book that involves characters traveling (via any conveyance), it doesn't have to be the central plot point. I'm tentatively planning to read Strangers on a Train.

But that doesn't have to be your interpretation.

[Therese]

I can't stop thinking about this challenge and I'm always coming up with books for different prompts. This last year I read The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver. The main character is a quad, and the author got into his head perfectly even though he still worked as a detective in a mystery-thriller. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books.

[Margie]

Luciana wrote: "omg you guys, I twitted Libba Bray asking her to recommend me a book and she twitted back asking me what I was in the mood for <3 I'm so giddy right now!

I'm still missing:
An audiob..."

That's awesome!

[Karen]

Luciana wrote: "omg you guys, I twitted Libba Bray asking her to recommend me a book and she twitted back asking me what I was in the mood for <3 I'm so giddy right now!

I'm still missing:
An audiobook..."

Might I suggest Charcoal Joe: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley. It is read by Michael Boatman. I think this was exceedingly enjoyable in audio form because of how well Michael Boatman did in creating the different intonations and inflections with each character.

[[deleted user]]

Juanita wrote: "Sara wrote: "What, exactly, is meant by an "unreliable narrator"? How are you supposed to know if a story's narrator is reliable until you have read the book?

It's like you're in my head! I had th..."

One of my favorite series' with an unreliable narrator is by Spencer Quinn. His Bernie and Chet series is narrated by Chet who is a dog who flunked out of K-9 police school.

[Chanz]

I'm not sure if this is against the rules since it's more than double dipping but I am planning on reading The Underground Railroad.

It came highly recommended to me by a friend who also happens to be a librarian (check), it was written by a person of color, involves travel, has a red spine, and was a bestseller in 2016.

[Chanz]

Luciana wrote: "omg you guys, I twitted Libba Bray asking her to recommend me a book and she twitted back asking me what I was in the mood for <3 I'm so giddy right now!

I'm still missing:
An audiob..."

I am currently listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer narrated by Nick Offerman. It's amazing, he does the character voices really well and when he is reading the narration it sounds like what I imaging being read to by Mark Twain would be like. It's on Audible and it has very good production.

[Marilyn]

I just finished Gulliver's Travels for the 2016 prompt "satire" and I would like to suggest this as an option for 2017 "book about travel". It is an excellent book.

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

[[deleted user]]

I read "Map of Time" a few years ago and loved it! You are right, though, it is rather difficult to describe.

[Nadine in NY]

Now that I'm all done being excited about having a new list (and there are some GREAT categories on it this year!), I'm finding myself a little irritated with the overlap. "Involving a mythical creature" and "based on mythology" have heavy overlap! Also, "a story within a story" and "set in two different time periods" has a lot of overlap; it's possible to find a book that fits just one and not the other, but most books fit both.

It's okay, I LIKE the books I'm finding for these categories, but I feel a little let down.

[Cindy]

There are several different reasons or ways that a narrator can be considered unreliable.

"A narrator can be unreliable due to having incomplete or incorrect information although initially neither the narrator nor the readers is aware that this is the case. The narrator of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (view spoiler)[initially misunderstands nearly everything she learns about her new husband’s dead wife, and therefore, the reader does as well." (hide spoiler)]

[courtney]

Nadine wrote: "Now that I'm all done being excited about having a new list (and there are some GREAT categories on it this year!), I'm finding myself a little irritated with the overlap. "Involving a mythical cre..."

Do you overlap categories when you're keeping track or do you count a different book for every single prompt?

Last year I double dipped but I'm not sure about this year!

Thoughts?

[Nadine in NY]

Courtney wrote: "Nadine wrote: "Now that I'm all done being excited about having a new list (and there are some GREAT categories on it this year!), I'm finding myself a little irritated with the overlap. "Involving..."

Do you overlap categories when you're keeping track or do you count a different book for every single prompt?


I do one category per book.

[Tanelle]

I use multiple prompts for a single book if it fits

[Cindy]

It depends, I want to try to do it this year one book for each prompt but I have used one book for multiple prompts in the past. I usually read between 150-300 books a year though so it's not too difficult to do one each depending on my reading "mood".

[courtney]

Cindy wrote: "It depends, I want to try to do it this year one book for each prompt but I have used one book for multiple prompts in the past. I usually read between 150-300 books a year though so it's not too d..."

Oh my gosh, how do you read so many books? That's unreal!

[Cindy]

I work in a call center at night so I read on my kindle app between dialing the phone. And I have no life. lol

[Booklover]

Cindy wrote: "I work in a call center at night so I read on my kindle app between dialing the phone. And I have no life. lol"

I'm envious. I would to work and read.

[Nadine in NY]

Cindy wrote: "I work in a call center at night so I read on my kindle app between dialing the phone. ..."

That's awesome that you can do that!

[Sharmon]

I only read one prompt per book even though a lot of books fit multiple prompts......some years I have moved a book if I find it necessary. The last 2 years I have only counted physical books not Audio books for this....as a personal challenge to myself but for 2017 I will count Audio books but still no double dipping.

[courtney]

Sharmon wrote: "I only read one prompt per book even though a lot of books fit multiple prompts......some years I have moved a book if I find it necessary. The last 2 years I have only counted physical books not A..."

That's great! I think I'm going to do what you're doing and try each prompt is a separate book. It'll be challenging for me, that's for sure!

[Kim]

Sara wrote: "What, exactly, is meant by an "unreliable narrator"? How are you supposed to know if a story's narrator is reliable until you have read the book? ay fr..."

Something like Dexter?
The Book Thief
The Screwtape Letters

[Kim]

Nadine wrote: "What are some ideas for "spans a lifetime"? I usually avoid longer books, and thus I rarely read the long, sweeping family saga types that would possibly fulfill this category."


Orphan Train
The Storyteller

[Rachel]

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if this has been done for this year but I created a google doc with a table if you want a printable table version of the list. I know they had this in 2015, and I found it super useful. I did not participate in 2017, so I don't know if they had one. This way you can download the list/print it/edit it/etc. Here is the links to the two separate lists:

Regular Reading List Chart:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w...

Advanced Reading List Chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n...

[Leanne]

Juanita wrote: "Nadine wrote: "What are some ideas for "spans a lifetime"? I usually avoid longer books, and thus I rarely read the long, sweeping family saga types that would possibly fulfill this category."

I j..."

A Prayer for Owen Meany is actually my favorite book ever and I was going to recommend it for this category. You may want to give it a shot, though it is quite long.

[Meg]

This sounds like a lot of fun. Can't wait to get started.

[Colleen]

Sara wrote: "What about a book set in a hotel? All I can think is The Shining. I'm not necessarily opposed to reading it again, but I would rather find something I haven't read before and maybe not..."

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is set in a hotel. It was a dnf for me last year but I may give it another try as I loved Rules of Civility.

[Kate]

If I do Secret of the Rats of NIMH for a favorite from childhood can that also count as books from a nonhuman perspective? I can see that a lot of books would be able to hit more than one challenge.

[Nadine in NY]

It's up to you if you want to use one book for more than one category. Some people do, most don't.

[Kate]

Nadine wrote: Turns out there are a lot of old sci-fi books with cat-like aliens!

You might want to try these. https://www.goodreads.com/series/4081...

[Meg]

If you join Bookbub you can get a lot of Ebooks for free in many different genres.

[Kate]

A book with multiple authors-- does that mean a novel with coauthors or can it be an anthology/short story collection?

[Kate]

So I haven't read the Hunger Games. It can be a book that's been on my TBR list for too long, the first in the series that I haven't read before, but (those of you who have read it) would it work for a book about food?

[Booklover]

Kate wrote: "So I haven't read the Hunger Games. It can be a book that's been on my TBR list for too long, the first in the series that I haven't read before, but (those of you who have read it) would it work f..."

No, it's not a book about food.

[Jenny]

Sara wrote: "What, exactly, is meant by an "unreliable narrator"? How are you supposed to know if a story's narrator is reliable until you have read the book?

And I would love to find a book about a holiday fr..."

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood is one of my favorites, and Atwood plays a lot with the notion of unreliable narrators!

[Tanelle]

I loved the Pelenelopiad! One of my favourite books too!

[Asher]

Anna wrote: "So I got this list late last night (I live in London) and stayed up way too late plotting out books.

I'm trying, at least for the first half of the year, to read only books set in London. But it'..."

You should consider Glitterland by Alexis Hall for your unreliable narrator book. I'm pretty sure it takes place in London. And the narrator, Ash, is bipolar with anxiety. He several times calls himself unreliable in the book. My only warning is that it's a MM (kind of) romance. But it's SO amazingly good and Hall's writing is simply gorgeous. He takes dark things like depression and suicide and describes them with haunting and beautiful imagery. Like, even though I'm certain this is considered a romance, using that label is almost a discredit to the book because it's so much more than that.

[Amanda]

I can't use audiobook as I am deaf and unable to hear what they're saying. Is there another way or make an exception for this?

[Jillian]

Amanda- just change that task. I think the purpose of that task is to get people to try and read in a different format. So some ideas are if you mainly read ebooks read a paperback or vice a versa . If you mainly buy books read a library book. Or just make it a wild card and pick any book you want.

[Asher]

Amanda wrote: "I can't use audiobook as I am deaf and unable to hear what they're saying. Is there another way or make an exception for this?"
What about attending a play (shakespeare festival, local high school, professional theatre, ect) and choose a show that you can purchase a copy of the script to. So you could read the words either before or after, but instead of being an audio telling of the story it would be more visible on stage. I'm not sure on feasibility of such an idea, though. It's more a random thought.

[Anna]

Amy wrote: "You should consider Glitterland by Alexis Hall for your unreliable narrator book."

I'll look into it, thanks! I don't read much (OK, any) LGBTQ+ romance, so this is a good opportunity to expand my horizons. If the writing is good, I'm in!

[Nadine in NY]

Amanda - yes! you can just make that category a "Wild Card" - read any book you want, or randomly grab a different category from another challenge, or just make up your own category. There are no hard and fast rules in this Challenge, we each make it what we need it to be.

[Liz]

Donna wrote: "I am going to try hard to use this challenge to read only books I already own (Except a book published in 2017, of course). I'm becoming a book hoarder and need to start truly reading them rather t..."

LOL I have the same problem...

[Anna]

Linnie wrote: "This is an interesting list! I think it will be fun! Like all of you, I was thrown by the unreliable narrator prompt and like Lindi I immediately thought of [book:A Million Little Pieces Oprah's Bo..."

Late to the conversation here, but that's a good point! Could use Three Cups of Tea for this example!