40 - Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge

[Shelley]

I'm trying to read a book from every country so I chose the "fascinating country" prompt from 2017. I read Golden Child, which is a debut novel about rural Trinidad. It was an emotional short read but I'm glad that I read it.

[Britany]

Picked a prompt from last year: Read a Diverse Author

Finished P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cyndy]

I read The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, the sixth in the series. I liked this one almost as much as the first one, it was a page turner for me.

[Erin]

Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions

I used the 2018 prompt: A book with and animal in the title.

Loved this book. Loved Rachel and am so sad to hear about her passing. She was a wonderful, fresh voice in the faith community.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I'm doing a prompt from each of the previous years for this, and finished my first which was for the book 100 years older than you prompt from 2016. I went for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

I think my opinion of this book is jaded by its classic status and that I've come to it at a time in my reading where I'm just not very excited by the works of white, straight men. Even Scottish ones. My rating is based on my personal enjoyment, but I do appreciate that this has been massively influential and has stood the test of time. It's an interesting tale, short and to the point but with some important statements to be made on the fact that no one is either good or bad, or should be made to feel they have to suppress parts of themselves. I just...was expecting a bit more, given that I have heard references to this book for probably my whole life. More horror, more shock, more impact. But it was all just a bit too stiff.

[Kristin]

Rather than choosing a 'favorite' per se, I'm picking prompts that are either interesting (from the 2 challenges I didn't participate in) or didn't fulfill during the year of the challenge. Still deciding on which unfulfilled 2017 prompt I'm going for, but the other 3 are:

2015: A Book Written By An Author With Your Same Initials- Lights and Sirens by Kevin Grange
2016: A Book About a Road Trip-Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, And 3 RVs On Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt
2018: True Crime- Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away with Murder by James Stewart

[SadieReadsAgain]

My second book for this prompt book about an interesting woman prompt from 2017. I went for Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I read Jane Eyre maybe ten years ago, and loved it. I was intrigued by the woman in the attic and I'm so glad that someone decided to tell her story. I really enjoyed this imagining of it, and fully believed that this was the history which paved the way to the events in Jane Eyre. I haven't read any post-colonial stories either, so that was fascinating to me too. The bitterness and tension between the former slave owners and the emancipated slaves creates such an uneasy atmosphere for a story which is tense enough on its own. Rhys has a beautiful way with words, the descriptions of people and surroundings in this book were so vivid, but the story doesn't get lost in that, it still moves forward. I don't know how this would land with readers who haven't read Jane Eyre first though, as the ending in particular would probably be confusing without context, but it definitely makes me want to do a reread with this new perspective. And of course, to read more of Rhys' work too.

[SadieReadsAgain]

My third book for this prompt was a Pulitzer Prize winner from the 2015 challenge. I read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. A lot of WW2 stories are told about or from the perspective of persecuted Jews, but this story focuses on the lives of a French girl and a German boy. Their stories show that the cruelty of the war touches all involved - families are pulled apart, people are forced to do things that go against their morals or which put them in danger, and that there are heroes and villains on both sides of any conflict. This is a beautifully written book, and I loved how the story switched perspectives and times. Marie-Laure's experience of navigating life in occupied France as a blind girl who is left in the care of her recluse uncle when her father is captured, and Werner's story as an orphan whose poor circumstances lead to him becoming a reluctant Nazi recruit, come together in such a perfectly heartbreaking way. This book is also a love story to the power of communication, the power of words to bring people together across even the most fraught divides. The connections between the characters in this book are so powerful and so beautifully woven, that they provide a warm counterpart to the terrible situations in which the characters find themselves. I'm confused at people who think this is a magical realism story, as to me the myth that surrounds the diamond which Marie-Laure's father is tasked to conceal (not a spoiler) shows just how powerful stories can be and how desperate people can go to extreme lengths to cling to any hope. I can't tell what I loved more about this book - the writing, the structure, or the observations about human connections. They all come together to make something really special.

[Tina]

Im going with "A Book You Borrowed or That Was Given to You" and read The Murder House by James Patterson for this prompt.

[SadieReadsAgain]

My fourth book for this prompt (prompt now complete!) was from the 2018 challenge prompt a book set in a country that fascinates you. I went with The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey. This mystery set in 1920's British-ruled India was a joy to read. I learned so much as Perveen Mistry, the first female lawyer in Bombay, becomes involved in the lives of three widowed wives living behind the veil of purdah, after a murder in their home. I thought the setting was fascinating, both in terms of the women in seclusion and the wider context of India at that point in history. Massey brought so much of the different religious and cultural practices and the struggles of women living in such a society, and the racial disquiet of Indians under the rule of the British. But this is far from a textbook, as the mystery and the backstory of Perveen's journey through a traditional marriage to become the woman she is were just as fascinating. Perveen is a wonderful character, with the flaws of youth mixed with the intelligence and passion that her role requires. The story wound up to a realistic and satisfying conclusion, which I often feel lacking in mysteries. I really enjoyed this, and would definitely read further books in the series (which, given I usually avoid series, is praise indeed!).

[Joana]

Death on the Nile

[Nicole]

I used a New York Times bestseller and read Girl, Wash Your Face. Loved it!