Prompt suggestions for 2018 Popsugar challenge

[Ed]

Ruthla8 wrote: "Simant wrote: "Oh I have a few ideas..

1. A book set around a holiday that is not celebrated in your country
2. A Booker Prize winner who is not from your country
3. A book having any celestial o..."

I agree with you about best sellers...because 95% of them have no interest for me.

[Piajensen13]

There are so many good suggetions already. I repeated the LGBTQ+ because we need more diverse protagonists.

- Book with a feeling in the title
- Book with an elephant on the cover
- Book based on/turned into a computer game
- Book from a previously unread sub-genre
- Book with a contrasting colors on the cover
- Book with a gardening theme
- Book that has been censored
- Book with a LGBTQ+ protagonist

[Anna]

Rachel wrote: "A fiction and non fiction book on the same topic"

I love this idea!

[Sam]

Simply because I found some of my favorite books as a child and teenager this way:
-- A book sitting directly to the left or right of one of your favorite books or authors at a bookstore or library.

[Nadine in NY]

LOL I've found a few good authors that way too!!

[Jess]

Anna wrote: "Rachel wrote: "A fiction and non fiction book on the same topic"

I love this idea!"

I've noticed myself linking books this way, anyway! "White Tears" and "The Potlikker Papers" seemed to both be about cultural authenticity vs. appropriation, and "Swimming Lessons" and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" are both about the expectations have for mothers, cultural and otherwise.

[Jess]

I've been running a list in my head of books I was assigned in high school that I'd like to revisit, so I suggest these two:

A book you were assigned in high school
A book that is frequently assigned to high schoolers but that you have never read

Other, more random ideas:
A book with occult subject matter
A book you weren't allowed to read as a child
A book with the same title as a song
A book that reimagines a classic story (I'm thinking "Eligible" or Coetzee's novels)
A book about philosophy
A book that starts with "The Gospel According to ...
A book about a language that is not your first language
A book of short stories
A book that deals with mental illness
A book about motherhood
A science fiction book written by a person of color
A book about science
A book about beauty
A book about a genre of music that you ordinarily do not listen to
A book about finance

[Lu]

- The next book on a series that you started
- A book by an author who commit suicide
- A book about a dictatorship
- A book from a prompt you couldn't complete in a previous challenge
- A graphic novel, comic or manga
- A book recommended by a college professor
- A book recommended by a foreign friend

I really, REALLY don't want to re-read books next year. I started the UPRC to broaden my reading spectrum (if that makes sense) and re-reads ruin that for me :( I also feel that books turned into movies I've already seen also count for that because I already know how it goes, even if some details are different, it's nothing new u_u

[VanesGirl]

- A book that takes place on an train, a plane or a cruise-ship
- A book with a animal on the cover
- A book with sweets or fruits or flowers on the cover
- A book about dancing, singing or knitting ;-)
- A book set in Iceland, New Zealand or Botswana

[Theresa]

Christophe wrote: "Words of the title are fun too; what about "a book whose title includes the name of a musical instrument"? Dunno wether it should also include musicians ("the pianist"...), or musical pieces ("the Kreutzer Sonata").
.."

OOOH, I love this idea!

[Christine]

How about a book with an expletive in the title? I can think of at least 4 I've liked or am interested in reading, and that's just the f-bomb, LOL! I'm sure there are plenty of titles with "hell" or "damn" for the less profane among us.

[Nadine in NY]

Unauthorized Cinnamon wrote: "How about a book with an expletive in the title? I can think of at least 4 I've liked or am interested in reading, and that's just the f-bomb, LOL! I'm sure there are plenty of titles with "hell" o..."

LOL I don't think I've ever read a book with an expletive in the title!

[Carrie]

So many amazing ideas!!!! How about a book/ biography of a famous celebrity/ politician. A book ( fiction/ non fiction about a true-crime event in history i.e. Jack the Ripper, black dahlia , in cold blood) a book about your favorite hobby( oh the possibilities!) a sports memoir.

[Jess]

I second Carrie -- I really love the suggestions here! Here are two more:

A cautionary tale
A book set in the place where you grew up

[Tanelle]

A book with a bird on the cover
A book with a green spine
A book with a number in the title
A Giller Prize Winner
A Pulitzer Prize Winner/Nominee

[Nichelle]

a book that takes place in a country you would LIKE to visit
a book involving an activity that's on your bucket list
a book with ANY animal on the cover

[Susan]

Unauthorized Cinnamon wrote: "How about a book with an expletive in the title? I can think of at least 4 I've liked or am interested in reading, and that's just the f-bomb, LOL! I'm sure there are plenty of titles with "hell" o..."

Super fun -- and you can listen to it, too! Go the F*ck to Sleep -- you can listen to it for free read by Samuel L. Jackson on YouTube

[Susan]

Carrie wrote: "So many amazing ideas!!!! How about a book/ biography of a famous celebrity/ politician. A book ( fiction/ non fiction about a true-crime event in history i.e. Jack the Ripper, black dahlia , in co..."

would Patricia Cornwell's Jack the Ripper book work?

[Debbie]

Nadine wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Here are my suggestions:-

-Book written by an author with your initials (first name + last name)
-Book written by an author with same first name as you
.."

That first one was a Popsugar prompt a few years back. ... I think someone suggested a similar category last year and a few people pointed out that their names are so uncommon they couldn't find anything. Maybe it would work if it was something like "same first name as you or your immediate family member"?

Or we could do a combo...
Book written by an author with your initials, first name, and/or last name.

That way people could do one book and it could be first name and last, first only, last only or initials only... whatever they could find.

[Susan]

My last name is O'Fearna... several years ago my brother encountered a book calle O'Fear. Everyone in our family now has a copy :D

[Meghan L]

A book of poetry
A fairytale retelling/reimagining
A book that involves a bookstore or library
A book with a royal title in the title (i.e. King, Prince, Queen, etc.)
A book with an LGBT character
A true crime book
A short novella
A book written by a celebrity

[Debbie]

I took a class in college that paired books that told alternative perspectives of the same events. I loved the discussions in that class, and I always keep an eye out for those books, but I rarely prioritize them when I read. Examples:

Beowulf / Grendel
Jane Eyre / Wide Sargasso Sea
The Iliad / The Firebrand (or Song of Achilles)
Gone with the Wind / The Wind Done Gone
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Heartless
Wizard of Oz / Wicked
King Lear / Fool
Little Women / March
Pride & Prejudice / Longbourn
Lord of the Rings / Last Ringbearer
Hamlet / Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Hamlet / Gertrude and Claudius
Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Finn (about his dad)
Jekyll & Hyde / Mary Reilley
Robinson Crusoe / Friday, or the Other Island
Lolita / Lo's Diary
Peter Pan / Peter and the Starcatchers
King Arthur collection / Mists of Avalon
Name of the Wind (or maybe Wise Man's Fear) / Slow Regard for Silent Things


You could also expand this to be two books telling different perspectives on the same event - like Walter Mondale's autobiography and Geraldine Ferraro's memoir.

[Theresa]

book from the golden age of detective fiction
a whodunit or a classic whodunit

[Debbie]

A book in the middle of your To Be Read list (beginning, end)
A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list link
A book where one of the main characters is royalty
A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre
A book from a series you are trying to finish

[Zoe]

Some of my favorite prompts have been the ones where we have to get a book suggestion. So I hope there's one of those next year. :)

[Jackie]

A fictional book about a non fiction person
A book written in the 90s
A book translated from another language
A non fiction book about an unfamiliar topic
A book with a road trip in it

(Sorry if some were mentioned or done in the past)

[Chinook]

A Canada Reads contender.

[Nadine in NY]

Sisa wrote: "A book written by someone you're attracted to. ..."

That's a very interesting category. Now I'm thinking about it, I don't know who I would read. I don't usually think about what the author looks like!

[Theresa]

So many good ideas here. My recent reading of a map back paperback made me think of another prompt:

A book with a map in it.

I love stories with maps! I'm constantly referring to them. And some books without maps have me going to Googlemaps when they are set in cities like Paris or London so I can see where the characters are.

[Christine]

Sisa wrote: "A book written by someone you're attracted to.
"
Ah, I like this one! Would probably inspire a lot of memoir reading.

[Reyna]

A book from a celebrity run book club other than Oprah. (Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Jessica Parker)
A book from a magazine recommendation (People Magazine).
A book from an author who shares your birthday or birthday month.
A book recommendation from your favorite social media book themed account (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc.)

[Elyse]

Reyna wrote: "A book from a celebrity run book club other than Oprah. (Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Jessica Parker)
A book from a magazine recommendation (People Magazine).
A book from an author who shares your bir..."

A book from a celebrity run book club other than Oprah. (Emma Watson!)

[Rachel]

VanesGirl wrote: "- A book that takes place on an train, a plane or a cruise-ship
- A book with a animal on the cover
- A book with sweets or fruits or flowers on the cover
- A book about dancing, singing or knittin..."

Sorry, buy I have to ask. Iceland, New Zealand or Botswana? What's the connection??

[VanesGirl]

@Rachel
There is no connection :-) I like these countrys ..I visited Iceland this year and the landscape is so beautiful and i read the Inspector Erlendur Series by Arnaldur Indriðason to get in the mood for this trip...
Same goes for New Zealand and Botsuana ..I love to read about the countries before a trip ..

I would love to read a book that connected these 3 countries ...maybe a treasure hunt all over the world ? :-)))

Sorry for grammatical errors. English is not my native language. I´m from Germany ..

[SC]

I'd like to see "a book with a song lyric in its title" or "a book suggested by someone from another country."

[Janet]

Some suggestions:
A book written before 1900, or by an author born before 1900.
A book originally written in a language other than your own.

Similar to this year:
A book with a spine the color of ......

Also, perhaps if we can not specify it is a novel, rather than a book for the prompts. This way non-fiction can also work for a prompt.

[Chinook]

I'd love it to be cover colours rather than spine colours - I only read ebooks.

[Nadine in NY]

A book that starts with a death.

This could be any murder mystery, or something like Crime and Punishment, Big Little Lies, Before I Fall, Everything I Never Told You, The Lovely Bones ... I thought I'd be able to find a listopia for this category, but a quick search left me empty handed.

[Emanuel]

a book that the title is a job/proffesion/job.

[Emanuel]

a book with a story passed in a hospital.

[Emanuel]

the last book from an author we love, before is death;
a book with a boat/ship on the cover;
a book with a musical instrument on the cover;
a book about a person with a deadly disease;
a book with a story passed on a revolution;
a book that was a 2017 best seller;
a book about painting or a painture.

[Christophe]

Nadine wrote: "A book that starts with a death.

This could be any murder mystery, or something like Crime and Punishment, Big Little Lies, Before I Fall, [book:Everythi..."

Great idea! I have no idea what I'd use for this prompt but I'd certainly enjoy looking.

[Jillian]

Rachel wrote: ...."I would really love if the challenge this year would take into account prompts that have been used commonly before. I know not everyone does other reading challenges so I'm probably in the minority here, but it gets a little boring doing the same topics over and over when there are so many other great ideas out there!:..."

I feel similiar. Some ideas were really interesting the first time but after repeating them every year they are just boring now.

I felt there was a lot of overlapping between the Popsugar challenge and AtY so I'm hoping that for 2018 they won't be so similiar.

[Chinook]

Read a book about a protest/people protesting.

Read a book about a hate group? (It would be dark but it feels like an important relevant topic).

Read a book about terrorism/terrorist.

[Charlsa]

Theresa, a book with a map is a great suggestion!

[Megan]

-a book written in the decade you were born
-a book in a series you have started
-a book from the town/region/state where you are from or where you have previously lived
-a book you will give another try (if started, a book you didn't finish or if you have no DNF books then a book you don't think of interest to you but you will give it a try)

[Tanelle]

Please not another book from your own town/province/etc. I think I've exhausted the whole 3 books that fill this prompt in the past two years with the same/similar prompt

[Alison]

I'm thinking it might be good to finally read some of the books you've been avoiding. How about:

- a book you previously started but did not finish
- a book someone recommended to you but you didn't read
- a book you had to read for school but didn't enjoy
- a book that intimidates you
- a lesser known classic or a classic by an author you've avoided.

[Tara]

They had the prompt a book you started but didn't finish in 2015 and it was one I dreaded! I managed to get off on a technicality but I prefer not to revisit books I avoided or disliked because I read a lot (as we all do) and there are too many good books to waste my time on bad ones. I definitely don't want to reread a book I disliked.
But I like where you are going with this! I think we should challenge ourselves. Last year I did my own challenge and one I chose was give an author a second chance. So I read a different book by the same author as a dnf or book I disliked. Also maybe a book in a genre you normally avoid could be ok?

[Anabell]

Carrie wrote: "So many amazing ideas!!!! .... a book about your favorite hobby( oh the possibilities!)..."

I wonder if there is a book about Pinterest? ;-)