Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2020 Weekly Checkins
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Week 2: 1/3 – 1/9
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Christy wrote: "Happy 2020, everyone! This is my first check-in of the year, and I'm 3 books into my challenge. I read:Big Little Lies (about a book club; kind of a stretch on that prompt if I'm b..."
For a book from Italy I highly recommend A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio (I tried to link it but that function is down on Goodreads right now). It was a fan favorite from the longlist for this year's Tournament of Books. It was short and moving in a quiet, simple way. Good stuff.
This week I didn't make it to the library until Tuesday, but still got some good reading in. Finished: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Another reading challenge asked me to read a middle-grade book, and this also fits the pop-sugar challenge for a book published in the 20th century.
Started: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, and A Blade So Black by L. L. McKinney.
The way I choose books is I generally grab anything that looks interesting. I get most of my books from the library, although I do have about 15 books that I own and need to read. I also am doing 4(!) different reading challenges right now; and it's fun trying to find books that check as many boxes as possible, while also looking genuinely interesting AND being available at my library.
Tara wrote: "Happy Thursday! My kids finally went back to school today and I'm definitely ready to get back to our regular schedule - and I think they are too!Finished
The Stationery Shop I'm ..."
I also really enjoyed
and that cover is gorgeous. :)
FinishedOne of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. This was a reread. It's a mystery/thriller and satisfied the Read Harder prompt Read a mystery where the victim isn't a woman, and served the purpose of refreshing my memory for the sequel that I'm using for the prompt A book about or involving social media. I remember being completely wowed by this book the first time I read it. And truth be told it still wows me on the second pass. It still manages to surprise me despite remembering who the culprit was, and the general plot. It does give "The Breakfast Club" vibes and that is intentional but outside of the initial scenes it is more background than an actual play in the plot.
Home Improvement: Undead Edition by Charlaine Harris Read for the prompt an anthology. It was an okay anthology. Most of the entries I found difficult to get into as they were shorts for other series that I had no background knowledge to help inform my understanding of the characters. The ones I did have the knowledge for or were standalone were very good. I enjoyed Melissa Marr's entry the most out of them all with Patricia Briggs' entry Gray being a close second.
Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel Sci-Fi/Political Thriller. Read for the prompt A book with a 3 word title and the Read Harder prompt Read a doorstopper (>500 pages) published after 1950 and written by a woman. It is book 2 in Bonesteel's Central Corps Trilogy and very good. Starts slow but once the inciting incident happens putting it down becomes difficult. The chapters are short and generally an easy read.
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews Paranormal Fantasy/Romance. I started reading this series last month after letting book 1 languish on my TBR for over a year. I enjoy this a lot, the battles feel real with stakes attached and aren't glossed over as many other Paranormal Fantasies tend toward. I love the tour through the various world mythologies with each book usually featuring one as a major part of the plot. And it is a lovely slow burn romance that still hasn't quite gotten off the ground by the end of this book.
Currently Reading
Three Fates by Nora Roberts. Romance. For ATY prompt A book that is between 400-600 pages
Magic Mourns by Ilona Andrews Paranormal Fantasy. A book that passes the Bechdel Test
Supernova by Marissa Meyer Sci-Fi. A past Popsugar Challenge Prompt: 2019 A book with a character with superpowers
One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus Thriller. A book about or involving social media
QOTW:
I typically just read whatever interests me next on my TBR. Doing so keeps me from growing bored and viewing reading as a chore instead of something I enjoy. That said if the next book is one I know I won't be able to put down until it's done and it's the middle of the workweek I will skip it until the weekend in order to keep myself functional for work. But that's more for sanity than an actual interest in prolonging my anticipation.
I have finished these books between Jan 3 and Jan 9:
I found White is for Witching very confusing so I didn't enjoy it very much..the other three were much better..
So far I've completed 5 of the challenge prompts, including #9, #19, #24, #35 and bonus #8.
There is a snowstorm blowing outside right now so I started reading
and I'm enjoying it very much. It's supposed to storm until 6 am..this is the first year I won't have to do any shoveling so I'm quite happy too! I've done plenty of shoveling over the years, often for multiple hours in a row with no real rest. It can be very exhausting! I suppose I just get a bunch of books (usually from the library) and just read them in some random order. Often it's by due date. I do have a few books picked out for certain prompts so I will read them when I have time.. I'm doing several different challenges at the same time, like the Popsugar, the ABC and the Around the World challenge.
I did pick out a book this week from the Library for the one "a book that caught your eye"...it had an eye catching title! The title was
so I will be reading that one of these days. My friend had recommended
because I had just read
and so that is how I found the Devil's Gate book. I also have books sitting on my shelf to be read but I'm not really saving them for any particular date..some I'll use in various challenges though.
I had a fairly productive week 2! Finished two books, both of which fit prompts for this challenge.Finished Reading:
1) Interview with the Robot by Lee Bacon. It was one of my free Audible originals for January, and I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but it exceeded my expectations. The voice-acting was superb, and the narrative flowed well from the shifts between the interview sequences and the flashbacks. As evident from the title, I used this prompt for #28 (a book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character). Highly recommend this if you want a fun quick sci-fi read. It's one of the more enjoyable middle grade books I've read. 5-star read.
2) The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West, for #38 (a book by or about a journalist). I really loved Lindy West's prior memoir, Shrill, and when this one came out, I put it on hold right away. I really enjoy her writing style. She's very blunt, but in an entertaining way, and with a lot of heart. A lot of her sentiments about politics and media really resonated with me. This was a 4-star read for me.
Currently Reading (a lot, but these are the two I'm focusing on right now):
1) The Secret History by Donna Tartt, for #3 ("a book with a great first line"). I'm hoping to finish it before my classes start back up on Tuesday, because I'll have a lot less free time then, and this is a super dense book I probably won't want to read alongside readings for class.
2) Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire. This is a reread for me; I wanted a refresher on Jack and Jill's story before I dive into the newest Wayward Children book, Come Tumbling Down. (I haven't decided which prompt I'll be using that book for, but it's definitely going somewhere on the list.)
QOTW:
I tend not to plan my reads unless it involves getting ahold of something from the library. I tend read based on moods and whims, and I'm willing to put other books on the backburner or come back to them later if something I've been dying to read comes in from the library earlier than expected.
Hi everyone! This is my first check-in, so that’s exciting!Finished Reading:
1) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (26. a book with a pun in the title) - This book really made me fall in love with Discworld. It was such a fun read with a story that kept me guessing the solution till the end. And I was cracking up every other page! 4.5 stars.
2) Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (29. a book with a bird on the cover) - While I still enjoyed this book (Pratchett’s writing and pure wit is enough for that) I felt the plot itself was lacking and meandered quite a bit. I think I like these books more when they’re satires of one story (like Macbeth in Wyrd Sisters, even though there were so many references to other stories) rather than every story on the face of the planet like in this one. 3 stars.
3) The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay (13. a book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it) - This was effortlessly creepy. I didn’t expect to like 2nd person, but it worked so well for this! 5 stars! It’s part of the Forward Collection of short stories about the future. There are six of them - I read one of them last year which I didn’t like so much so I’m glad I didn’t abandon them all. I plan to work through the rest of them this year, as they all have interesting premises. I actually read this not expecting to fit any prompts and it almost didn’t, until I found a random movie with the title.
Currently Reading:
This week I’m starting my Harry Potter reread, which made me decide to not use rereads for Popsugar, because it seems a little bit like cheating.
I’m also reading Mort by Terry Pratchett to try out another DiscWorld subseries (and get more of Death!).
I also plan to read All Systems Red by Martha Wells because I have it checked out from the library and I’m leaving for college after next week. I was originally planning to use this for the robot, cyborg, or AI character prompt, but I realized I could use it for the great first line prompt, since there’s nothing else I much want to read for that. I can always use a later book in the series for the robot prompt.
QOTW:
I don’t really plan my reading past a general “I want to read these books in the near future.” based on what I’m gravitating towards at that point in time. I actually did a lot of planning for Popsugar but to be completely honest that’s because it was fun to plan out all the books that fit the prompts, not really something I’m going to follow until I get to the end and there’s prompts that I’ll have to go out of my way to fill. For example, right now I’m just reading my way through Discworld and then finding ways to use them for prompts.
Mahi wrote: "Hi everyone! This is my first check-in, so that’s exciting!Finished Reading:
1) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (26. a book with a pun in the title) - This book really..."
Mort was the first Discworld world novel I read (I can hardly believe that was more then 20 years ago!) and I was immediately hooked, so it has a special place in my heart. Hope you enjoy it :)
This week I read/finished
and
and today I'm starting a re-read of
. I decided a while back the re-read the whole Discworld series in order and the this one (book 3) is the next one on my list. My husband just finished it (his first PTerry) and he had a great time, so I'm really looking forward to it.QotW: I make loose, short term reading plans just so that I'm never stuck deciding 'what next?' whenever I finish a book, but if something not on the list takes my fancy or a library hold becomes available 'now' I'll go with that. Last year I tried for a long term reading plan but it really didn't work for me.
Hello, all. Happy 2020! I’m off the a good start. I finished two books this week, A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan for a 22. A book about or by a woman in STEM
How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts by Ruth Goodman, which is for an ATY prompt: 34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name.
I’m reading three books right now:
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery for a book set in a country that begins with a “C”
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides for a book with a great first line.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir for an ATY prompt: 27. A history or historical fiction.
QOTW:
I’m get 95% of my books from the library, so it’s more more a case of when they are available. But I’m also a mood reader and will return a book and check it out again later.
2/50
There are parallel stories happening in this novel, but a lot of the book is set in and involves Moscow- host of the 1980 Olympics
Nadine, that sounds like so much fun for both you and your kids!! You really embodied the spirit of the prompt! ;)
Mini wrote: "Mahi wrote: "Hi everyone! This is my first check-in, so that’s exciting!Finished Reading:
1) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (26. a book with a pun in the title) - Thi..."
I did enjoy Mort a lot! It's my favorite so far after Wyrd Sisters, and I'm already excited for Reaper Man.
Also, it's insane to me that these books are so old but feel so fresh to me.
This is my first check in for the year and I've finished three books so far:1.) Beartown - for a book involving social media (not a ton of social media involved, but it's in there.)
2.) A Woman is No Man - for a book that passes the Bechdel test
3.) The Lager Queen of Minnesota - for a bildungsroman
In progress I've got:
1.) Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem - for a book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads
2.) Marley - for a book set in a city that has hosted the olympics (Marley is set in London)
I think I'll finish both soon and look forward to moving on to a book published in 2020 (I got an ARC for Shielding Gillian by Susan Stoker - I am so moved b/c Susan used my name and dedicated this book to me!)
Then, depending on how soon the library has my holds ready, I'll begin Star by Yukio Mishima for a book set in Japan and/or Playing with Light by Beatriz Rivera for a book involving a bookclub.
The book involving a book club is one of the challenges I've been looking forward to the least - it's been tough to find one that appeals to me, but I have hope for Playing With Light.
Right now I'm reading based off of what books I own or are available at my library; I'm not really paying attention to any order or excitement with the prompts. I'm hoping by doing this I'll get a good mix-up of prompts I'm excited about and ones that are just sort of there. This week I haven't read anything for the challenge, I've just been catching up on some books my friend recommended to me as well as some rereads of a few of my guilty pleasures (see: The Darkest Star, The Burning Shadow, Obsidian, and Onyx). Funnily enough, they are all by the same author (one of my all time favorites, because she just writes the ya-fantasy romance that I love to read).
I did, however, start a book for the challenge that I plan on finishing within the week: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I'm reading this for the a book that won an award in 2019 prompt. I bought it last year with the intentions of reading it and never really got around to it, so I'm excited to get into it!
Hello,This week I finished O Segredo de Lucinda and Devastadoras.
Currently reading A décima terceira história for the Advanced prompt of more than 20 letters in the title.
Question of the week:
Do you reserve some books for reading later in the year or do you dive right in to your most exciting reads right away?
I don't. I do not plan any of my readings. I just go to the library and choose there the books I will gonna take home. The closely I get to that is seeing various books there and adding those to my reading list and intending to pick them next time. But for some books that time still not happened!
Having done Popsugar for the first time last year and really enjoyed it, I nonetheless wasn't planning to do it this year, so I could just catch up on my TBR list without having to fit things into prompts. But you know how it is - I saw the new list of prompts, my brain immediately started trying to figure out what I could read for some of them, and here I am! I think it helps that I feel like a lot more of my TBR list will fit various prompts, which I struggled with a bit last year.Therefore...
Started and finished:
The Secret Commonwealth for A book you meant to read in 2019. I'm keeping up a trend here, as last year the book I read for the 'meant to read in 2018 prompt was La Belle Sauvage. Having said that, this second book did rather leaving me feeling like the magic is gone when compared to the original 'His Dark Materials' trilogy...
Started:
Rebecca for A book with a great first line. This is a re-read (although the first time was quite a while ago), but I'm also allowing myself more re-reads this year, should I need them (I only re-read for the specific re-read prompt last year).
QOTW:
In the context of Popsugar, it's probably more prompts that I'll reserve rather than books themselves. Or rather, I'll try not to leave all the potentially difficult prompts until the end, leaving me a struggle to try to finish. I'll try to space them out a bit!
Finished: Saint X - book published this year (coming out February 2020); 3/5 stars
A pretty college freshman goes missing on her family's winter vacation to the island of Saint X. Several years later, her sister, who has now grown up and lives in NYC, unexpectedly runs into one of the men originally suspected in the teenager's disappearance. I thought the premise was really interesting, but this was too much of a slow burn for me. The author, Alexis Schaitkin, is a wonderful writer and you feel like you're on the islands or in NYC, because of her atmospheric writing.
A Spark of Light - author who has written more than 20 books (Jodi Picoult); 3/5 stars
A women's center in Mississippi is taken hostage by an active shooter. This book is told from many characters' perspectives, which I really enjoyed and disliked at the same time, since we didn't get to dive as deep into some of their stories. Very fast-paced read.
The Library at Mount Char - book with a made-up language; 4/5 stars
This book is crazy, and not what I would typically read at all, but I really enjoyed it. "Father" goes missing, and it's up to his disciples to find out what happened to him. It's a mash-up of science fiction and fantasy, but some of the characters (Steve, Erwin, the lions) are amusing and lend some humor to some really dark stuff in this book.
Where the Crawdads Sing - book with a map; 5/5 stars
In the 1950s-1960s, Kya is abandoned by her family and survives in the marsh on her own, until, as a young woman, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder of the town's golden boy. I loved this book. The storytelling is incredible, Kya is so resilient and someone you can't help but root for, and the ending was fantastic. I appreciate the hype around this book.
Currently Reading:
The Dreamers - book with the same title as an unrelated movie or tv show
Tampa - book with a pink cover. This book is disturbing. I've had to put it down and switch to other things many times.
*Immediately goes to look up the disturbing book* :D
Sarah wrote: "*Immediately goes to look up the disturbing book* :D"DITTO!
Im currently reading SUPERMARKET and i have no idea why, its awful.
Mod
Shantel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "*Immediately goes to look up the disturbing book* :D"DITTO!"
Haha! Glad I'm not the only one
So last week I finished three books for the reading challenge: Prompt #17 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Awesome read, I'm almost ashamed not to have read it sooner.
Prompt #26 - The Celery Stalks at Midnight: Revisiting a childhood read for bedtime reading with my children. Very punny indeed.
Prompt #22 - The Girl With a Mind for Math - Another bedtime read, but will double up with Path to the Stars by Sylvia Acevedo later in the year.
Currently working on The Truth by Terry Pratchett for Prompt 49, but may have to switch out. I'm not getting into a groove with it. Seems to be a running problem with me and Pratchett's work.
Most of this week for me was taken up by Strange the Dreamer (January 3-5) and Muse of Nightmares (80% done by January 9). Totally worth it though, since I loved them both!QOTW:
I find that I'm doing that a bit more in general this year, but I'm not sure if I'm going to stick to it. I've made myself a very tentative TBR, and it's mostly seasonal. I'm doing an "own books only winter" for the next few months to try and get through some of my own books before taking anything from the library, and there are definitely some that I've been picking up sooner or at least planning to because they feel very winter-y to me.
In the past, I've tended to save a few books to read specifically in October (anything paranormal, or anything that I think will be really creepy or atmospheric), but had never really saved anything for other times before.
Nadine wrote: "LOL you guys!! Tampa was great, by the way! If you like dark humor and twisted situations - the protagonist is absolutely vile, but she knows she’s vile."I requested from my library. I wasn't committed to my selection for Book with pink cover :)
It took me forever to post this week. I've been so busy reading everyone's posts I didn't have time to write my own.Finished:
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
The Dutch House I really liked it.
My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 for a book set in Japan.
Currently reading:
The Fated Sky
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots
QOTW:
I mostly read at the whim of the library holds.
Mod
As for my most recent project, the newly discovered male kitty has been progressing very nicely. Nose and mouth appear to be about 2/3 healed, paws are healed, fur is looking much healthier, and he is such a sweetheart! I plan to get him healthy within the next 2-3 weeks and then start searching for a loving home for him where he will be the only cat, so there will be no chance of transmission of FIV. Unless… I am starting to search for a remote job so I can work from home. I really need this change in my life right now for so many reasons. If that happens, I may well be tempted to keep him, as long as all 4 felines can get along… But that is a huge IF!
Finished:
The Son by Philipp Meyer. Oh, my. This had a rather grisly (for me, at least), start. The first 50 pages did not zip past for me…but then it picked up and was quite compelling. I wasn’t overly impressed with the ending, but the reading experience overall was a good one! He touched on so many issues without naming them, simply describing the characters’ experiences, etc. That’s what I really like! Although several authors I follow had highly recommended this I might not have read it if not for the Popsugar western prompt!
Popsugar: #6, #27-Greed, Envy, Wrath (as in Revenge), #33-4.00, #37
ATY: #8, #10, #16, #22, #27-historical fiction, #43-Death, War, Plague
RHC: #7, #10
Twisted Twenty-Six (Stephanie Plum #26) by Janet Evanovich. Finally! I feel as if Evanovich has her mojo back. I was not overly-impressed with #24 and #25 of this series, but this one had me laughing more often again like I used to with these books. I love these characters and the situations in which Stephanie, Grandma Mazur and Lula find themselves can be absolutely hysterical! Of course, Ranger came to the rescue and Morelli and Ranger shared protection duties of Stephanie and Grandma. This is my brainless, nothing but fun, reading!
Popsugar: #3-“Some men enter a woman’s life and screw it up forever.”, #33-4.13, #34, #42, #46, #49
ATY: #9, #41, #45
RHC: #3-Although the kidnapping victims were Grandma Mazur and Stephanie, there were murder victims who were male, #9
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean. There were so many really “out there” characters in this book! And it is unbelievable to me how people become so obsessed! With anything, but especially these orchids. I mean they are beautiful and unique, but geeminy! Get a grip! ;) Very informative and well-written. I own two other books by Orlean and plan to read them both this year. I attended an author event with her in 2019 and was so impressed! Her research is exhaustive and her writing style is very compelling for me!
Popsugar: #27-Pride, Lust (after orchids, not sex), and Greed, #34, #35, #38
ATY: #4, #27-history, #34-Nonfiction (Lynn)
Reading Women: #15
Continuing:
The Recipe Club: A Novel About Food and Friendship by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel. This is one I literally closed my eyes and picked off the shelf! It is much better than I thought it might be and I already have several recipes to try! I should finish it this week.
Sorority Sisters by Tajuana “TJ” Butler. I have no idea where I got this book or why. But it looks interesting and will retroactively fulfill a couple of 2019 prompts as well as at least 2 for 2020 challenges! Only 14 pages in and while it’s not my usual jam, it is okay thus far.
Planned:
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Hoped to get this read last year, but now I am reading in preparation to lead the February Popsugar Monthly Read discussion! I have no doubts this will be an enjoyable read for me, having read several of Hannah’s books and found them all to be delightful!
The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton for the IRL bookclub I facilitate. I hope this proves to be as good as I think it will be! And there are others reading it with me this month as one of the 2020 Reading Challenge Buddy Reads!
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab for the IRL bookclub at my favorite used bookstore. I am a bit hesitant about this one, but hopeful!
Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer. Can’t wait to read this second installment. I enjoyed the first one but can’t say I was thrilled with it, so am hopeful I will enjoy this one more! It will fulfill the world leader prompt. Can't remember if that is for Popsugar or ATY! :)
Question of the week:
Do you reserve some books for reading later in the year or do you dive right in to your most exciting reads right away?
I am trying to be more pragmatic about the challenge reads this year. Last year I allowed myself to go ahead and read books for prompts I already had filled rather than reading those that would fulfill new prompts way too often. So this year, I am trying to allow myself to leave those books on multiple prompts and proceed on to other prompts. It really is okay if I do not read an individual book for each and every prompt. Really. It is… For instance, I was a bit hesitant about The Son, so I made myself start it in January! And now it’s done and it was quite interesting. Much more complex than any other “western” I have read. Later this month I plan to read Hope Rides Again to fulfill some specific prompts. That is one I should definitely enjoy. Hopefully this will help me make better progress on these challenges!
I find that overall I try to diversify my reading. Within the past 5 years or so I have been able to “tandem” read, as I call it. If I am reading a book that is not compelling, for whatever reason(s), I will grab another book that is lighter and I’m certain to enjoy, and alternate between these two books. I NEVER used to do that at all, but have found it to be a valuable strategy as I read books with which I am not enthused. (These less-than-compelling books are typically “classic” reads I feel are “must reads” or assigned book club reads.) A good example is Kurt Vonnegut books. I found his writing style to be very disruptive, not the least bit enjoyable, but have managed to read Slaughterhouse-Five and . The Breakfast of Champions (Both only 3-star reads for me—very low!) And I may well read at least one more. I just feel he is an author with whom I wish to be very familiar, even if I don’t particularly enjoy his books. This may stem from the fact that he is from the local area where I spent my childhood; I just feel as if I should read his books… And that is very unusual for me! :)
Shantel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "*Immediately goes to look up the disturbing book* :D"DITTO!"
I did that too! Not sure if I want to read this one though; I'm looking forward to this one with a pink cover:
Lynn wrote: "A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab for the IRL bookclub at my favorite used bookstore. I am a bit hesitant about this one, but hopeful!"I just wrapped up with this trilogy a month or two ago and I enjoyed it! :) The books all started off a bit slower than I'd have liked and seemed dull at first but around the halfway to 2/3rds mark of each, they started to get really exciting (so don't be too discouraged off the start)! Just a heads up both book 1 and 2 end with cliffhangers if memory serves, so you may want to have the next in the series lined up!
Also, just want to say; the second half of A Gathering of Shadows (#2) was so cool to read! If I could choose any fantasy series to be made into movies I'd choose this trilogy mainly for the Essen Tasch/Element Games that occur in this one but also because I would LOVE to see a screen adaptation of the whole story!!! && whatever you do, DON'T read the Goodreads synopsis for the second book as it contains some major spoilers for the first book!
Hello, this was my first week for the challenge. I read: The year of magical thinking for the prompt a book you picked because the title caught your attention.
I'm still working on my list. I have several books checked out of our library and hope to fit some of my owned to be read books into the challenge.
I finished my current read from the first check-in and then two short stories and one full-length novel:Finished The Girl in the Spider's Web (A book by or about a journalist; see last check-in)
The Victims' Club (A book about or involving social media)
Murder on the Orient Excess (A book with a pink cover)
Der Mephisto-Deal (A book you chose because the title caught your attention)
Question of the week:
Do you reserve some books for reading later in the year or do you dive right in to your most exciting reads right away?
Yes and no ... some prompts obviously call for a certain time of year, and others just feel more appropriate to one season or another. And then there are some I can't wait to read but for some reason don't feel like reading them just yet ... But apart from the prompt-related reading times, I don't specify the order in which I read the books in advance. Every time I finish a prompt, I look at my list and see what I feel like. As I read in three languages and two forms (physical and electronic), there are also factors to consider such as "After three e-books I really feel like holding a physical book in my hands again" or "After five books in English, I would like to read one of my mother tongue for a change".
I am new to this challenge and have a few questions.If I give a number I expect to read, can anything after that with 2020 prompts?
Can you use 1 book for two prompts?
Where do I post books finished?
Is there also a place to post books which we didn’t read for this challenge?
Thanks so much - looking forward to begin reading my choices once I finish another challenge.
Mod
This is basically a fan site. The challenge itself is created and published by Popsugar. We take their list and talk about it. If you poke around, there are posts for each individual category, posts like this where we chat about our reads each week, a post where you can show your entire list, posts each month for group reads, and more. We have folder for each type of post.
THERE ARE NO RULES. It’s up to you how many categories you want to fill and which books you choose and whether you check off more than one category.
I’m running out the door on my way to work so I don’t have time to give you links to the various posts.
Nancy from NJ wrote: "Where do I post books finished?Is there also a place to post books which we didn’t read for this challenge?"
You can post your PopSugar list in the thread linked below. There is a blank list of the prompts in the first post that you can copy and paste into a new one for yourself. Then you can add your books and check them off when finished:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
You can post about every single book you read for any reason, in any format, right here in the weekly check-in threads! A new thread opens each Thursday. We also chat about other things, like pancakes and potatoes.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
We also have lively discussions about what counts as an animal 😅
Question of the week:Do you reserve some books for reading later in the year or do you dive right in to your most exciting reads right away?
- Nice question. Well, I reserve some books for reading later in the year. I have plans for them to read next year or it depends on my TBR list when I add them:D
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Victims' Club (other topics)The Girl in the Spider's Web (other topics)
Murder on the Orient Excess (other topics)
Der Mephisto-Deal (other topics)
A Gathering of Shadows (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Terry Pratchett (other topics)Jeffrey Eugenides (other topics)
Ruth Goodman (other topics)
L.M. Montgomery (other topics)
Marie Brennan (other topics)
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From Phyllis Diller to Chelsea Peretti, from Joan Rivers to Anjelah Johnson, from Carol Burnett to Mindy Kaling (and Mindy Kaling has just made history 7 years after this book was published by being the name and host of a late night TV show on a major network), this book is a written oral history of women in comedy from the late 1950s to about 2011ish. It had a lot of interesting information, but would hop back and forth over the time lines both within and between different chapters, although there was a general progression though 50+ years of women as stand up comics and comediennes.
I didn't like this nearly as much as I thought I might, but it was still interesting and I'm glad to have read it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, even before reading it, that it was a man's domain and it has been an enormous push and struggle for women to be perceived as funny. Well, perhaps a rocket scientist is the wrong person for this job, anyway, but it's safe to say that any thinking person with an awareness of how most roles in society have traditionally been male dominated could have figured that out. What I hadn't realized was just how many men don't think women are funny when it's not that hard to make most men laugh IRL, but what do I know? I'm not a comic.