Week 2: 1/4 - 1/11

[Fran]

My first check in and I forgot! We are suppose to get a big storm later today. Lots of snow and ice. Not looking forward to it! I finished two books; Mary Poppins, I've seen the movie and not read the book. Not entirely like the movie but similar. I also finished Dillie the Deer: A True Story of Love, Healing, and Family written by a hometown person. I am in the middle of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry for a book I wanted to read in 2017 and didn't. I couldn't get it from the library till now. Hopefully I'll get a lot of reading done while the storm rages

[Jessica]

What a WEEK! I've been giving the DIBELS assessment to students all week and my eyes are screaming in protest!
I finished Hidden Figures for the movie I'd seen prompt. I also started and finished The Princess Diarist for a book I meant to read in 2017. Still reading The Son of Neptune (not as into it as I have been the others in the series) and just started Pride and Prejudice for the alliteration prompt.

QOTW: I am working toward a goal of 100 books this year, Llama Library Challenge, My Favorite Murder Challenge, and at work I'm trying to read/reread all of our Roald Dahl books.

[Rebecca]

I am happy to say that I have finished my first prompt for 2018, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. It was quite a long book. I chose an audio book as its easy to listen to at work and it took me 10 days to finish. I absolutely loved every minute of it and it has actually encouraged me to try to find more historical fiction books to add to my prompts.

For the QOTW:
I am in a reading group which has 1-2 suggested readings per month. As I am trying to keep up with both Pop Sugar and that group, I have set a goal of 75 books this year. 50 for the PSC and another 25 for my other group. As I am always listening to one book, and reading another on an e-book, I am goign to add a hard copy book to my reading so that I can take it with me to the beach, pool, parks, etc.

[Sue]

I had a good reading week. I finished the book I was working on last week (Daughters of the Night Sky) which I really enjoyed. It was about female Russian pilots during WWII. I also finished The Wanted by Robert Crais (I love him!). This is my favorite genre (action thrillers) and most of the books I read outside of reading challenges are from it.

I also finished 13 Little Blue Envelopes for this challenge (book with an ugly cover - though I didn't find the cover to be particularly ugly). This was a fun YA read of a teenage girl sent on an adventure by her cracked aunt (who had passed away).

And last night I finished The Nanny Diaries which I liked much more than I thought I would at first. It's in the same vein as The Devil Wears Prada - a young woman trying to make her way in a job that eats her alive. Nan is a nanny for an active 4 year old boy whose parents can't be bothered. While supposedly funny (and it had funny parts) I found it to be a sad statement on our culture of materialism and neglect of what's important.

I intended to start reading Before We Were Yours next, but when I put it on hold, I found myself at #129. So, 25 weeks or so from now, I'll get it. Yowza. I also intended to start Master Potter: From Brokenness to Divine Destiny--An Allegorical Journey for the allegory prompt, but though I had it marked that I had purchased the Kindle version, I can't find it (and neither can Amazon in my purchases). Oh well.

Instead, I started on the audio version of The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (I'm about 20% in). As is typical, it's different from the movie, which I loved, and highly enjoyable. Also up are Lord of the Flies, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

QOTW:

I am also participating in the Around the Year challenge (52 books) and the Goodread's challenge of course. Popsugar plus AtY totals 102 books (I don't double up) and my goal for Goodreads is 120 because I've got all those new action thrillers to read!

[Jocelyn]

I just finished reading The Master by Colm Toibin which is my novel based on a real person. It was beautifully written, but just so sad and lonely. Kind of perfect for cold miserable weather though!

[Jill]

Hello from Marina, CA (just north of Monterey)! Weather is perfect here, sunny and low-mid 60s (F). I'm a pretty fast reader and I didn't know about the check-ins last week, so as a recap, I've read 10 books (of varying lengths) so far for this challenge. I'm attempting to get most of my least favorite categories out of the way.

2. True Crime: Black Dahlia - The Whole Story: The Murder of Elizabeth Short - didn't enjoy the writing style of this book, but it was short and this isn't my favorite category.

6. Based on a real person: The Madwoman Upstairs. I didn't expect to enjoy this book, but I did.

40. Prompt from 2015 (I'm gonna try all three years): Bayside Passions - Had to read it the day it came out...my favorite series. I'm a romance junkie. Loved it!

Advanced:
1. Bestseller from year I graduated HS (1991): Heartbeat - It took a while to get into, but it was okay.

5. Fruit/Vegetable: Plum Lovin' - I've read all the number books, but never read the between the numbers books. Short, fun, and easy to read.

6. Allegory: The Hike - as suggested by someone in this group. Truly the strangest book I've ever read, but a fast-paced, easy to read book in a category I'm not enamored with.

7. Same first/last name: Silver Lining-I happened to be reading it when I came upon this challenge. Another one of my favorite authors. Fun read.

8. Microhistory: Proof: The Science of Booze - another category I wasn't excited about. I kinda sped read through it. At least there isn't a test. Scientific, but interesting, just not my type of read.

9. Problem facing society: Thirteen Reasons Why - Well written look at teen suicide.

10. Recommendation: Losing It - Romance by an author not on my normal list, but loved it.

QOTW:
Goal is to read 100+ books.
Another goal is to only read books on my wish list (only ones I can pay for) or they need to be from the library or on Kindle Unlimited.

[Stephanie]

Still working on Inkdeath , haven't finished any challenge books yet.

QOTW - My goodreads reading challenge is set at 225, since last year I read 223. My goal is also to finish all of the series I'm in the middle of before starting any new series.

[Tania]

Hi! This week I finished:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo It was a little tough to get through and my first time reading a Nordic Noir. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series but I'll definitely read another book in the genre in the future.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower for a book set in the decade I was born in. I wish I hadn't picked this book up right after reading a Nordic noir and I also regret not reading this book when I was younger.

QOTW - I'm only doing the PopSugar challenge so my goal is set to 50!

[Pamela]

This week I finished Just One Damned Thing After Another for a”book about time travel”. 3/5

And for the alliteration prompt: The Duchess Deal 3.5/5.

My goal is to try some new to me genres.

[Theresa]

Aaron wrote: "Week two is done and with it six more books, again three of which fulfill prompts for this challenge.

I read Call Me by Your Name (everyone has been asking for it at the bookstore... Gives new meaning to that question posed by T.S. Elliot:"Do I dare to eat a peach?" "

What a fabulous summary description in one line! And a way to shake up the way one reads T.S. Eliot, as well!

Well done!

[Kathy]

I finished 2 books for the challenge:
The Story of the Lost Child for the ugly cover prompt. I’m finally done with the Ferrante novels, which I read over the course of the last year. Unlike others, I needed time between the books to process. The ending of the the quartet was amazing, probably the best ending that I have ever read. Great books.
The Lifeboat for my book at sea. Didn’t like this much. Under 300 pages, but it seemed to go one forever. I could see that it could inspire some interesting conversations, which is why many say it is a good book club book, but it just wasn’t for me.

QOTW: I’m trying to read 55books this year, and actually finish the POP Sugar challenges. Last year I only got through the regular one.

Have a great week everyone.

[Vera]

Hi from Portugal!!!

This week I read Limões na Madrugada. It's a romance from a portuguese author,and it can be translate as Lemons at Dawn. How you can guess the prompt is Read a book witha fruit and vegetable in the title.

And I'm almost finished Derrocada. A spanish book about true evil. The prompt: A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to. The title can be translate as Overthrow

[Fran]

Miriam wrote: "Happy Thursday Everyone,

It has been a good reading week here in Texas.

Finished:
City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp for a book I intended to read in..."
I read Mary Poppins too and had the same reaction. No wonder Travers didn't like what Disney did with her book

[Stina]

Greetings from geeky Northern Colorado! I knocked the first three books off my 2018 list last week.

I ended my 7-year slog through Great Expectations for my "book from a celebrity book club" (Oprah's). I didn't hate it. It just felt so dang slippery, even though I'm reasonably well educated in 19th-century English culture and language. I will probably watch a screen adaptation and see if that makes me feel any better about it. Any recommendations for which one to look for?

The Life List is a book club pick, and I'm using it for my "book with alliteration in the title." I've never read any Nicholas Sparks, but I gather if you like his stuff, you'll love this. It's a super-sappy romance that is, as the title promises, pure wish fulfillment. And apparently I was in the mood for that, because I didn't hate it.

And then I finished up Merry, Merry Ghost, a free holiday audiobook download from the publisher. I got tired of Hart's mundane (as opposed to paranormal) cozies a long time ago, but I decided to give this ghost story a go. Ugh. No more chances for this author. I even had to go to the "favorite prompt from a past PopSugar Challenge" to get this one to fit, and it's a bit early in the year for that! I'm actually making that a 3-part prompt, one for each year. This one is 2016's "murder mystery" prompt.

I got started or made progress on several other books last week:
Obit. Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People who Led Extraordinary Lives
The Dispatcher
The Best of All Possible Worlds

QotW: Heh. Heheheheh.... I think I may have a problem and should seek professional help.

I'm still hosting the Completist Christie Challenge here at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... and have, at a friend's request, added another "perpetual" challenge, the 50 States Challenge. You can also see my personal 2018 Reading Challenge, which consists of prompts I failed to complete in 2017. The Abandoned Book Rescue prompts I failed last year, though, are just reincarnated into a new Abandoned Book Rescue for 2018. And since the library is not hosting a new version of GenreLand this year, our little club created our own version and I am hosting it and making it available to the public.

This week I'm doing Bout of Books 21, and for the month I'm participating in Winter's Respite. As for annual challenges in addition to this one, I have already signed up for Book Bingo, Modern Mrs. Darcy, Humor, Mt. TBR, While I Was Reading, Alphabet Soup, Habitica, and Read Harder. Oh, and of course Goodreads. I'm going for 80 books this year. And I'm not quite done with sign-ups....

My general reading goals are to read books I already own and to improve my finish:start ratio.

[Danielle]

I managed to finish 5 books this week - yay for graphic novels and short story anthologies!

I finished:
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer for my favorite prompt from a previous year (book with a subtitle from 2017)

The Blinding Knife for next book in a series

Bloodchild and Other Stories for author of a different ethnicity

The Underground Abductor (An Abolitionist Tale about Harriet Tubman) for true crime (yes, I was stretching)

The Power for a book about feminism

I've started The Tiger's Daughter for a book with an animal in the title, and The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness for a book set at sea. I need to re-read Every Heart a Doorway for a book club and may count that as my book with twins.

QOTW: I am also doing the ATY in 52 challenge, as well as the Sirens challenge. My other personal goal for the year is to finish up some series I have started.

[Johanne]

@Stina, I am really curious - what is book bingo?

[Fran]

Danielle wrote: "Hi all! Wow I can’t believe how many books some of you can read in a week!

I’ve been reading Angela’s Ashes this week and finished it today. I enjoyed it, but I don’t know if it quite lived up to ..."

Any goal is a good goal. If it increase your reading that's fabulous!

[Stina]

Kristina wrote: "...Headhuntersfor my Nordic Noir..."

How are you liking that one? I've not read anything by that author yet, but I've been considering it for my Nordic Noir read.

[Carmen]

I decided today I’d also sign up for a challenge to read classics, but I can’t remember what it’s called 😅 A couple prompts can be doubled for Popsugar with the books I chose, but if I have time I might try to read different ones for those prompts.

I plan to fully look into that one over the weekend and plan it out.

I also printed out the full list of the 1001 books lists and made “read them all” a bucket list item! I’ve already read 12 with loads already on my TBR list, but this will be a challenge; I’m excited!

I also started The Twelve Kings of Sharakhai just now, but am only 55 pages in. Am looking forward to coninuing tomorrow. I am using this book for the first Advanced prompt (year of graduation). I had to be a bit creative with this one as I haven’t graduated yet, but I am happy with my current reasoning.

I do want to mention: someone talked about having read Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, and I wanted to ask if they are considering reading the sequel. Because I think (it’s been a long time) I really liked that one as well, and it wrapped the story up nicely!

[Jacqueline]

Good Morning from a rather warm yet overcast Armidale, NSW, Australia.

This week I've finished
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Beautiful little book that left me emotionally drained.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Loved all the 80s references. I was in my late teens/early 20s then and I spent many a day hunched over Space Invaders, Donky Kong, Frogger and Pacman on the old school tables you had to sit at.

Love Lies and Liquor by MC Beaton
Agatha Raisin solves another murder. Light easy reading after the emotional stuff. Love the TV show of this series too. So much fun :)

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Short quick read to have a rest from the bigger books I have in line next. Some love it and some hate it. I'm on the loved it side.

I've also started
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and I'm rereading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I left them down at the beach though and even though I do have the ebook copies up here with me I'm waiting until I get back on Monday to keep reading them. I may pick up something else while I'm here as I do have Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty up here as well as Me Before You in paperback and about 550 books on my iPad.

QOTW

I'm going to try and finish Popsugar as well as fitting my PS books into as many Around the Year in 52 books prompts. Also want to fit as many of my scifi group books in as I can. And some of the "everyone has read it but me" group books as well. I was going to do Book Riot as well but their prompts don't interest me this year. We'll see how this works out for me eh

[Stina]

Kenya wrote: "Dunno if this interests anyone, but this week I managed to finish the first draft for the book I'm writing! :D Excited! I know this is only the first step toward publication, but still, it feels gr..."

Awesome!!

[Stina]

Sheri wrote: "...I'm doing 3 challenges this year, yes I know I'm kind of crazy. ..."

Oh, geez, what does that make me?

[Sheri]

Stina, that you’re more so? :D

[Stina]

Johanne wrote: "@Stina, I am really curious - what is book bingo?"

The one I'm doing is a game here at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/....

[Nadine in NY]

Carmen wrote: "I also printed out the full list of the 1001 books lists and made “read them all” a bucket list item! I’ve already read 12 with loads already on my TBR list, but this will be a challenge; I’m excited! ..."

I also try to read books from the 1001 list, but I don't think I'll ever read them all, that's a little TOO challenging for me!! I did the math: I've already read about 100 or so, and I average about 15 books off that list each year, and there are 1305 books on the list right now (if you include books that were added and then removed, etc) ... that will take me 80 more years to read all of them. Unless there are mega advances in medical science, I'm not going to live that long.

[Jacob]

So I broke out of the holiday reading slump this week and finished 3 books.

Watchlist: 32 Stories by Persons of Interest edited by Bryan Hurt
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (this was for the "book set on another planet" prompt)
Quiet, Please: Dispatches From A Public Librarian by Scott Douglas (for the "book involving a library or bookstore prompt)

I'm currently working on two more, and debating whether to start a third, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the Nordic Noir prompt, but I try to not read more than one work of fiction at the same time. Gets too confusing.

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen (for the "book with an ugly cover" prompt)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (for the "book about death or grieving" prompt)

QOTW:
I've set a goal of 70 books this year, which is attainable. I've finished around 75 each of the last two years. I've hopped on the bandwagon of folks rounding out the challenge at 52 by choosing their favorite prompt for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 challenges.

[Johanne]

Thanks Stina, looks fun. I think one challenge is enough for me though ;)

[Rachel]

I read 2 books this week, bringing total prompts completed for 2018 to 3/50.

Completed:
I finished This is How It Always Is since my last check in.

I then started and finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Loved both books and each got 5 stars from me and I am recommending to all friends and family. If you haven't read them yet, definitely suggest you put them on your TBR lists! Characters voices were so honest and told the stories in an accessible way for me as a reader. Went through a range of emotions reading each one.

Currently reading:
Picked up my choice for the January group prompt of Nordic Noir, which for me is I'm Traveling Alone by Samuel Bjørk. I'm about a third of the way through and enjoying how the plot is developing with lots of little hooks. Have a good feeling about this thriller! I have read five Jo Nesbo books in the past and the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson so wanted to try a new author for this prompt. Bjork's style is similar. Always like trying new authors and this book is part of a series, so hoping to get into that series too maybe.

QOTW: I am only doing the PopSugar challenge, which is the same as last year. This is my second year of participating and really like how my reading of different genres, authors and topics has grown since joining the PopSugar group - so thank you everyone!

My overall reading goal is 60 books which allows me the flexibility to pick 10 other titles on a whim to read throughout the year.

My other more general reading principles/ goals:
• Not to read more than one book by the same author
• No audiobooks
• Read at least three classics
• Read at least thirty new authors
• Read at least five debut authors
• Read more books in translation
• Not to buy a sequel unless I have read the previous title
• Not to purchase more than 5 new books per month
• To read at least 20 paperbacks on my current bookshelf
• To read at least 20,000 pages

[Teriyaki]

I only have one book read so far, Milk and Honey. I enjoyed it! I'm currently reading Sleeping Beauties, The Maze Runner and The Girl on the Train. I have popsugar categories for all of them except The Maze Runner. If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!

My other reading goals this year are to read 52 books.

[KateNZ]

I've completed one, for prompt #1 (a book made into a movie I've already seen): Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. The movie was reasonably well done but the book is a 5 star read all the way!

QOTW: other reading challenges for 2018
I have several reading challenges this year.

I'm a member of Play Book Tag, a fabulous Goodreads group - so several of my 2018 challenges come from there.

1. pick a Listopia list and read 6 or more books from it. My list is Speculative fiction that passes the Bechdel test which I thought would be fun.

2. The PBT Decathlon challenge - there's a different task each month, starting with picking a book off the list of one of our admins, who's just stepped down after doing a fab job for ten years!

3. The standard Goodreads challenge - 52 books, which should be ok as long as I remember to list everything.

4. There's a different tag each month for Play Book Tag so I want to read a book for each (January's is science).

5. 6 books from cultures other than my own.

6. At least two books off the Play Book Tag top ten book list for 2017.

7. At least 10 books from the library (I'm trying to get more into a library habit rather than buying books all the time)

8. Finishing off some challenges that I didn't finish this year!

[cvtherin]

I've finished my first Harry Dresden Storm Front, which was a pretty fun read. I really like the paranormal and urban genre, it's always fun to have magic in modern settings.

Right now I'm reading my true crime prompt Murder in Plain English: From Manifestos to Memes--Looking at Murder Through the Words of Killers. It's pretty interesting, but the authors (this can also cover the book by two authors prompt) occasionally simplify certain crimes a little too much. The main focus is on society's fascination with murder by looking at the history of murder in fiction and how media outlets cover murder and often will sensationalize certain murderers. Overall, I think it's an interesting way to look at the motivations of murderers that isn't often covered.

My main goals are to fully complete this challenge, or get as close a possible since I fell off reading the past few years. I also want to start reading more classics, and am trying to incorporate that where I can with prompts. And of course, wittle down my tbr list of books that I currently own.

[Cindy]

It has been a good week

I finished The Second Child prompt 5 Nordic Noir
I almost finished Doctor Zhivago prompt 7 A country that fascinates you.

This is my only challenge so far. I have joined some group reads. One of my goals was to make this challenge my main focus, slow down and have fun. I set my yearly reading goal at 42, usually it is set at 50.

[Biblio-Bound]

Hello everyone!
I only completely finished Into the Water last week. I really enjoyed the read and i'm already craving another book by Paula Hawkins.
I did DNF The Sea of Monsters, I think i'm just to old to enjoy these books. :(

I'm currently reading Flaggermusmannen "The Bat" for my Nordic Noir. So far I'm liking it.
I'm also reading The Sorcery Code, it's okay..

I'm not doing to many other challenges this year. I would like to read 50 books and complete the 4 series I own.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Elizabeth wrote: "I did DNF The Sea of Monsters, I think i'm just to old to enjoy these books. :("

I'm a couple years older than you (according to your profile) and I LOVED them. So, probably more personality than age. :-)

[Boxofdelights]

I read Eliza and Her Monsters, which I might use for 16. A book about mental health; The Best of All Possible Worlds, which is 27. A book set on a different planet; and The Sparrow, which could be set on another planet or animal in the title, but I'm going to use it for 4. A book tied to your ancestry, since it is well-grounded on Puerto Rico and in Catholicism.

QOTW: 100 books in 2018, one non-fiction book a month, and I'm considering Book Riot's Read Harder.

[Jessica]

This week I listened to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at work to complete the local author prompt. It's a book that I've been putting off forever, but I'm really glad that I finally read it! I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

I attempted to read The Secret Garden for the children's classic I've never read, but I couldn't get into the story at all. I'm thinking that I'll read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory instead.

I also read most of The Magicians for the book I didn't get to in 2017 and am planning on finishing it this weekend.

Other than this challenge, I've challenged myself to read 60 books through the Goodreads challenge. I'm also challenging myself to write reviews of all the books I read this year.

[T.]

Teriyaki wrote: "I only have one book read so far, Milk and Honey. I enjoyed it! I'm currently reading Sleeping Beauties, The Maze Runner and The Girl on the Train. I have popsugar categories for all of them except..."

Have you seen the movie based on The Maze Runner?

[Shelley]

QOTW: I'm doing the Around the Year and Read Harder challenges as well. It's mainly to keep me from just reading more sci-fi/fantasy and to actually reach into my TBR list.

The Popsugar books that I read this week were:
Childhood's End for a movie you've already seen. No reason to watch the mini-series of this. The book took a few good twists that I didn't see coming.

Shadows of Sherwood for a heist book. It's a YA book that was just a fun little read.

Misterioso for Nordic Noir.

[Carissa]

Hey there everyone! I hope everyone is having a good start to the challenge. I had a lot of time over winter break so I read a lot.

Books finished:

The Shack- book about grief/loss
Room- a book based on a movie I have already seen
Blindsided- a novella that finished a series I started about a year and a half ago

That particular prompt-finish a series-was going to hard for me because I was currently not in a series so this was the best I could do.

Currently reading: Outlander

Ok, so I’ve heard amazing things about Outlander and I’ve also started watching the TV show. I’m reading this for the time travel prompt.

I’m finding Outlander to be extremely slow. It’s a pretty hefty read and it’s slow (for me) on top of that fact. This book will take me awhile so I’m glad I’m starting it now. Am I crazy? If anyone else had read it, did you feel the same way? I mean, if it doesn’t pick up at some point, I will finish the book but I won’t continue the series.

QOTW: I’m not planning on doing any more reading this year. I hold down my teaching career and any teacher will tell you we work way over our hours to get everything done. I cant commit to anything else. Plus this is my first year doing the challenge and I want to see what it takes.

Happy Reading everyone!

Carissa

[Ashley]

I finished The Shining as my choice for “a movie you’ve already seen.”

Started Ready Player One as my “cyberpunk novel.”

QOTW: I’m doing the Popsugar Challenge and another r reading challenge for my travel book club which is 20 books - for a total of 70 books. For good measure, I made my total book count 75.

[Anna]

I did great until Tuesday, when I was tied up with work meetings all day (and then work dinners at night). Coworkers have now all gone back to their own cities, so I can get back to my reading.

I nonetheless finished four books:

Ready Player One, for cyberpunk. It was ... just OK. The plotty bits were great, but I thought the long, long, long lists of 80s movies and pop trivia got a bit grating. I was glad to finish it.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I've slotted it into "movie you've already seen," but I might move it to "childhood classic." I really, really enjoyed this one -- basically read it in one sitting! Still think I prefer the movie, though. (The Gene Wilder version, of course!)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, for true crime. I really, really liked this one. Highly recommend.

Pygmalion: Not sure I'm going to slot this one in anywhere!

Currently reading: The Good Immigrant and My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1, both for the Read Harder Challenge.

QotW: I'm doing the Read Harder Challenge. And I've set a personal goal of finishing 100 books this year. (I've come as close as 92, but I think I can do it!) I'm also trying to read things I already own.

And this is the year I read Middlemarch and Lonesome Dove!

[Rachael]

Hi all!

Not a very good reading week for me, sadly. I've had the dreaded lurgy so have been getting lifts into work rather than walking. That cut down my audiobook time to just listening on my dinner break so, after two weeks, I'm still only half way through The Snowman (Nordic noir)

I finished Vivian Apple at the End of the World (fruit or vegetable). Got really into it as it went along and looking forward to reading Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (maybe as next in a series if I can't find any other prompts to fit)

I then started Ramona Blue (undecided which prompt but most likely favourite colour, involving sport, or LGBTQ+ protagonist). I loved Dumplin' and this is another cute read.

QOTW
My only other reading goal is my Goodreads challenge target of 52 books.

[Beth]

Book Finished:

This week I finished Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks for A Book Made Into a Movie You've Already Seen. I haven't read one of his in many years. I actually had to watch the movie first and then read the book. I ALWAYS read the book first so couldn't even think of any that I had already seen that I would be interested in reading!

I also finished The Hate U Give for a book by an author of a different ethnicity. This has been on my TBR list for awhile and it was a really good read!

I am typically reading a book and listening to a book at any given time. I listen on the way to work and can often listen with one earphone in while at work, depending on what all is going on and what I'm working on. I did that this week but had a hard time focusing on the book and I think missed some key details at times.

Currently reading:
I am currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for Nordic Noir. I am 85% done so will finish today while sitting in airport! I have it from library as an ebook and audiobook so I have alternated listening and reading. This book has never really been one I wanted to read. Not my favorite prompt, but forced me out of my typical read which is why I'm doing this challenge. It has enough of my normal read, make progress on my TBR list while still challenging me to read a few different genres and a classic or two for the year. This is my first year doing the challenge and I feel very accomplished when I check one off my list.

Question of the week:

Aside from the Popsugar challenge do you have any reading goals for 2018?
I have just my Goodreads goal of 75 books which is doable and my secret goal of 100 books (which would include audiobooks)!

Happy Reading Everyone!

[Carmen]

Nadine wrote: "Carmen wrote: "I also printed out the full list of the 1001 books lists and made “read them all” a bucket list item! I’ve already read 12 with loads already on my TBR list, but this will be a chall..."

I'm only 23 so I have some time, but I know it's a lot to read. I may not make it, but to give up before I started would be a shame. Quite a lot of books on my to read list are on that list already, so I'd say that's a great start. Some of them are on my Popsugar list even! I'll see how far I'll get haha!

[Kelly]

This week I finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz, my pick for a book based on a real person, and Killman Creek, the next book in a series I started. I enjoyed both of them, but absolutely LOVED The Tattooist of Auschwitz and highly recommend for anyone who likes historical fiction.

I'm currently reading Never Let Me Go and The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well. I also started listening to the audiobook version of Lolita. It's very well narrated, but I'm still not convinced that audiobooks are for me! And, in the background, I'm chugging through You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth.

QOTW:
My Goodreads goal is to read 60 books. I read 47 last year, but did not really start reading until halfway through the year, so I'm confident I can reach 60! I am also trying to track my reading better this year, so am using a spreadsheet/trello/paper combination that will either epically fail or produce some really cool stats at the end of the year. We shall see!

[Fannie]

Bonjour,

Yesterday I came back from Orlando where we were swimming to a raining day in Montreal. Today we are having a big snowstorm. At least it's the week-end.

Despite what I thought, I didn't have time to finish any books during my vacation not even in the plane. I am stille reading The Fifth Season for the different ethnicity prompt and it's very good. I should finish it this week during my train commute to work.

QOTW: In another group I participate to other challenges also, but nothing added to that one. Number of pages read in a year, by sport team etc... My personnal goal for this year is 50 books.

[Jess]

I never thought of tracking the settings of the books I read but after seeing a few people here doing that it has inspired me so I have gone back and made a map of the settings of the books in my read list on Goodreads (I only read about 30 books a year so it didn't take me too long).

I'm a bit embarrassed about how much of my reading is from Western Europe as I like to think that I enjoy reading about other cultures. This has inspired me to read more widely and I'll see how many more countries I can fill in by the end of this year.

>

[Nadine in NY]

Jess wrote: "I never thought of tracking the settings of the books I read but after seeing a few people here doing that it has inspired me so I have gone back and made a map of the settings of the books in my r..."

Cool map! how did you make that?

[Fannie]

Jess wrote: "I never thought of tracking the settings of the books I read but after seeing a few people here doing that it has inspired me so I have gone back and made a map of the settings of the books in my r..."

How did you do that, I like it.

[Fannie]

Nadine wrote: "Jess wrote: "I never thought of tracking the settings of the books I read but after seeing a few people here doing that it has inspired me so I have gone back and made a map of the settings of the ..."

Nadine, I found that site and it seems to be working well:

https://mapchart.net/world.html

You can convert to an image at the end.