Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2021 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 45: 11/5 - 11/11
Harmke wrote: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference."
I had this hanging in my old office. If only I would gain the serenity mentioned.
Dubhease wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! Add me to the list of people who are stressed out! My dad is in the hospital for an infection (not covid! thankfully). He's doing well and in good spirits, so hopefully h..."Thank you. With a toddler in tow and higher rates of covid where he lives, I haven't really been able to consider visiting. Maybe a video chat could be in the cards this weekend.
Okay I went and looked through my spreadsheet for prompt options. I'm listing some favourite reads that fit multiple prompts.Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews
- published 2021 (what I used this for)
- hybrid (post apocalyptic Atlanta and world where magic and technology battle it out lots of history thrown in to cement the magic system)
- there are broken buildings on the cover
- this is the first book in a spinoff series and the mc comes back to Atlanta unrecognizable with a new name so definitely a fresh start
- Ilona Andrews has a blog that got me through lockdown
- three generations
- when I read this in January it was <1000 reviews
- pretty cover (IA has an artist that they work with for many projects)
-they released some chapters in 2020 so it works for that tbr prompt
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
- published 2021
- suit on the cover ( a diamond ring)
- dark academia (the mc's marriage dissolves because of scientific breakthroughs in cloning and the rest is kinda spoilery)
- dream job if you want to be a scientist
- forgetting explanation is kinda spoilery
- hybrid sci-fi thriller (what I used this for)
- fresh start/do overs again spoilery
- 3 generations
- when I read it, it was <1000 reviews
- pretty cover
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
- dark academia (so many crimes intertwined in the families of a kindergarten class)
- set in a restaurant (a bunch of scenes go down at a beloved coffee shop)
- broken candy on the cover
- oxymoron in the title (this is what I used it for)
- visit 2021 set in Australia
- 3 generations
- recommended it to my bestie who did read it this year and loved it
- everyone else has read it but you 844,000 plus ratings
- pretty cover
It’s been a bit of a busy week, but I finally managed to find some time to reorganize my bookcases! I still don’t have quite enough room for all of my books (because I’ve bought way too many new titles this year), but the shelves look much better than they did at the beginning of the week.I also have spent this week getting used to wearing glasses. They’re definitely helping with the headaches I’ve been having, which is fantastic! I think it’s going to take me a while to figure out how to keep them from fogging up when I wear a mask though.
POPSUGAR: 45/50
Beat the Backlist: 50/52
Goodreads: 275/200
Finished Reading:
~Grave Importance
~The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 8: 1965-1966
~The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 9: 1967-1968
~One Fell Sweep
~The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun - a DNF book from your TBR list
~The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 10: 1969–1970
Currently Reading:
~Sweep of the Blade
~The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 11: 1971 - 1972
QOTW:
Most of the multiple-prompt titles that I can think of actually would have fulfilled prompts for reading challenges other than POPSUGAR.
Mod
KL, Good luck with the glasses, but after all this time, mine still fog up with my masks!! :)
Mod
I have that problem too!!! My daughter somehow manages to wear a mask without fogging up her glasses.
Teri wrote: "Harmke wrote: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference."
I had this hanging in my old office. If only I would gain the serenity mentioned...."
Yeah, that part is still missing over here too *sigh*. I needed the words myself too this week. And a bit of the serenity, just a little.. Had a big headache yesterday because of sitting too stressed-up all week because of all of the covid-troubles.
Nadine wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "KL, Good luck with the glasses, but after all this time, mine still fog up with my masks!! :)"I have that problem too!!! My daughter somehow manages to wear a mask without fog..."
Here's what works for me: Pinch the nose wire so it fits kinda snug to your face and higher on your nose. Wear your glasses down your nose a bit, on the mask a little.
I feel like I have been a constant ball of stress for so long, I could just explode. Work has made ultimatums with several of us at work; "either meet these impossible standards, or else". We also have use-it-or-loose-it PTO time, so that means we are all being forced to chose between our jobs or our personal life. And if someone leaves, the work just moves to the next person. What is there to do, but stress read? (Am I the only person that stress reads? Like, does anyone else bring an emotional support book with them?)QOTW: Nope. I never double dip. But I like the challenge of trying to find books that fit obscure prompts.
PS: 34/50
RH: 9/24
RW: 1/28
GR: 413/365
HP: 62/62
ATY: 27/52
Currently Reading:
Out of Character
While Justice Sleeps
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Getaway
Willodeen
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with a Fresh Bite
James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing
The Message in the Hallow Oak
All the Young Dudes
Finished:
The Magical Reality of Nadia
The Worst Witch Strikes Again
All the Lives We Never Lived
Roar of the Beast
Lucy in the Sky
Conceal, Don’t Feel
Cool for the Summer
Allie wrote: "meet these impossible standards, or else"I see we are in the same club. Our club sucks.
What is there to do, but stress read? (Am I the only person that stress reads?
Have I mentioned I have now read over three HUNDRED books this year? Of course most of those are audio because I'm too stressed to read print most of the time. Also lots of picture and middle grade books. I get so stressed if someone in my book even mentions a job, I keep picking up books about children because they don't have one!
Mod
Your employer is crazy. People are quitting left and right, so EVERYONE is hiring. What incentive do you have to stay there if they are making these demands on you?
I agree. Do what you can do and the rest they can shove.... lol, I'm probably not the best person to give job advice right now, because I wake up every morning saying "I just don't give a...." but then I get into a better space once I'm actually interacting with people! I'm kind of jealous that you can stress read, though, because reading is one of the first things that goes for me when I'm stressed. To be replaced by stress eating and stress mindlessly watching youtube...
Jennifer W wrote: "KL, Good luck with the glasses, but after all this time, mine still fog up with my masks!! :)"Thanks Jennifer! ^_^
Nadine wrote: "I have that problem too!!! My daughter somehow manages to wear a mask without fogging up her glasses."I've met a couple of people who never have a problem with the mask fogging up their glasses. I have no idea what they're doing differently.
poshpenny wrote: "Here's what works for me: Pinch the nose wire so it fits kinda snug to your face and higher on your nose. Wear your glasses down your nose a bit, on the mask a little.."Thanks poshpenny! I'll give that a try the next time I have to wear a mask.
Mod
LOL that's me right now, too!!
Allie wrote: "What is there to do, but stress read? (Am I the only person that stress reads? Like, does anyone else bring an emotional support book with them?)"Stress reading is what I'm best at. Last year when lockdown started, I reread a zombie apocalypse series, and then reread my favorite series, both with all the supplemental material. Then I discovered reading challenges and ended up doing eight. The only way to not focus on *waves hand at everything* all that was to read. I read 174 books last year (probably more counting short stories) when I had initially put my goal at 70.
This year, I'm at 175 books read already, with at least 20 to go to finish the now 11 challenges I'm doing. I've reread four favorite series this year already, plus a couple of other books I haven't touched in at least ten years (unless it was to pack or unpack). Stress Reading is absolutely where I am right now.
K.L. wrote: "poshpenny wrote: "Here's what works for me: Pinch the nose wire so it fits kinda snug to your face and higher on your nose. Wear your glasses down your nose a bit, on the mask a little.."Thanks p..."
I use fabric masks that don't have a wire for the nose, so I just pin it down using my glasses. That seems to help with the fogging!
Shannon wrote: "I use fabric masks that don't have a wire for the nose, so I just pin it down using my glasses. That seems to help with the fogging!"Thanks Shannon! I'll definitely give that a try.
The Choice Awards are here! Off to see how many I've read...Edit: Umm... Oooookay. Seems they didn't move the date back, they just removed the round where you can submit write-ins. Now there are just two rounds, opening and final. If the voting is open to all people for both rounds, what is the point of having two? Also: No picture book category! All children's books are together! Humph!
Numbers:
Nominees: looks like 320
Number of eligible books I've read so far: 145
Number of nominees I have read so far: 12
So mad about no write ins right now. Makes me think goodreads staff forgot about this until the last minute.I've read 23 of the nominees and read about 40 that would be eligible.
They also did away with the cookbook category and the science & technology category. But here are my numbers:
Eligible books I've read: 43
Number of Nominees: 14
Most of the books I had picked to vote for got nominated, but I am sad that I can't write in to support books I've read and loved that maybe didn't get as much attention as they should have.
That's disappointing, it's always nice to see a few books that weren't on Goodreads radar get through.I haven't really read much of what's been selected (or they are books that I liked OK but not enough to think they should win).
Mod
Edit: Umm... Oooookay. Seems they didn't move the date back, they just removed the round where you can submit write-ins. Now there are ..."
oh I'm very sad about this. The write-ins AND the picture book category were the things I looked forward to!!! I never really cared about the rest of it.
They got rid of the "Science" category, too!!! I'm not even going to bother voting. I just haven't read enough to have an opinion, and I don't care about the outcome.
Mod
They've got it on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/42747...
And that Facebook post has a link to a Google Form (I'm just not sure if the link will work):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA...
So, hopefully, when you click on that, it does not come autofilled with my email address!! (nnthom266) (Be sure to "switch accounts" if needed!!)
Last year they posted about these Awards on their page, but this year I can't find it, they seem to be focused on Facebook.
Wow, I really get the vibe that the staff forgot about this. Oof.
I don't get the feeling they forgot, it feels very intentional to me. People always bitch about books being up in the first round that aren't even out yet, so they didn't let us in until later. Some write-ins always made it to round two but I don't think they ever won, so maybe they just decided it was pointless? I'm also assuming cookbooks, science and picture books had fewer voters so they didn't think people would care.
Aw man! I loved browsing the science category for books to read...
I agree, they didn't forget.It's very disappointing to not have the write-in options. While they may never have won, making it to the next round provided those authors with visibility to a wide audience. And that's worth it.
Jennifer W wrote: "Aw man! I loved browsing the science category for books to read..."Melissa wrote: "While they may never have won, making it to the next round provided those authors with visibility to a wide audience. And that's worth it"
Agreed. It was also way more fun for us!
They address the write-ins in the FAQ page and also explain that they are consolidating some of the nonfiction and kids book categories.The only nominee I have read is Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, and I gave it 3 stars, so I guess I am not voting this year.
If write-ins were available, I would have written in Star Trek: The Ashes of Tomorrow by James Swallow for science fiction.
Hi friends!! I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week. Left Chicago on Sunday around 4:30am and arrived around 3:45pm. Oklahoma is my 49th state and since I haven't gone on vacation in 2 years, and have time to burn (or lose) at work. I packed up the car with the dog and got an AirBnB and here we are. I'm hoping for some R&R and to catch up on reading, but the internet still keeps luring me away from the pages.... 35/40 PopSugar
8/10 Advanced PopSugar
64/80 GoodReads
Finished Reading:
1.) A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin (No PS Prompt) ⭐⭐⭐: A feminist secret group in NYC turns into something else entirely. Found it a teensy bit unbelievable, but all that aside, I enjoyed the ride.
Currently Reading:
1.) Les Miserables
2.) The Whisper Man
3.) Mexican Gothic
QoTW: Do you have any specific books you would recommend to fulfill multiple prompts from the 2021 Popsugar reading challenge? What is that book and what prompts could it fulfill?
I try not to double dip, but I know I've come across quite a few that would work for multiple prompts, but didn't keep track of them (sorry!).
Kenya wrote: "Last Friday I ended up moving out of an unhealthy living situation and am trying to get settled in a new place, as well as evaluate where I am mental-health-wise and figure out where to go from here."I'm so sorry for everything that you're going through right now Kenya. I'm glad that you are taking the appropriate steps to put yourself in the best situation available to you, and so glad that you have a great support system.
More of my stats, because I am off today and according to my little notepad, I've done this before. Now that I'm not about to fall asleep I can count better.Nominees I've read: 22
3 stars: 7
4 stars: 11
5 stars: 4
Brandon wrote: "They address the write-ins in the FAQ page and also explain that they are consolidating some of the nonfiction and kids book categories. Bolding mine:
"we can’t wait to find out which books readers loved the most in 2021."
On "streamlining" non-fiction and kid's categories: "Our goal is to have the Goodreads Choice Awards reflect the books that are most popular with our members."
OK, clearly they aren't even pretending to find the best books, just the most popular. That's totally fine. But if that is what you are awarding, stop saying they are the Best books. They are not best, they are most popular. They are not always the same thing. Say what you mean, Goodreads.
Theresa wrote: "I really don't preplan reading, just fit what I read in wherever it fits. Sometimes some reshuffling happens during the year."I love the planning, but ultimately this is what happens for me. I slot books in as I read them, and then reshuffle and plan once we get to the last quarter of the year.
I love the hunt and finding (often new to me) books that fit the prompts, but I can't plan a book to read for each. I like to have a few that fit each in case I don't happen to pick up books that fit.
Mod
The only nominee I have read is Light of the Jedi by Charle..."
It's true. They do mention it, but it doesn't make me any happier. Goodreads seems to have a knack of making things worse every time they "improve" things. I can't remember the last time an improvement actually improved things.
This year, to improve the awards process, we’ve made some changes and wanted to share these with you:
* Categories: Our goal is to have the Goodreads Choice Awards reflect the books that are most popular with our members. This year, we are streamlining our categories and will include science, technology, food, and cookbooks in our Nonfiction category, and picture books in our Middle Grade & Children’s category. You can find the full list of this year’s categories here.
* Write-In Votes: Only a tiny fraction of the overall votes were write-in votes so we are retiring this option in 2021. All nominees will be based on what Goodreads readers have added, rated, and reviewed this year.
They say "We analyze statistics" but who knows how they really decide which books to shortlist.
At a glance, out of the 20 mixed-age children's books, only 2 are picture books. One of them - Where's My Joey? - doesn't even look interesting. How did that make it on the super-short list??? It's got only 234 ratings. I've read nine picture books published in 2021 that have more ratings than that. One of the picture books I read from 2021 has almost ten TIMES that number of ratings. Why isn't The Rock from the Sky (2000 ratings, avg rating of 3.99) on their short list ? And there's no room for the phenomenal Is Was or Wishes (854 ratings, avg rating of 4.48) or the creepy Memory Jars (678 ratings, avg rating 3.85) or the delightfully weird Toasty.
That's extremely unappealing for me, a picture book lover. I used to count on the Goodreads Awards to highlight some popular books that I may have missed. At least I still have the New York Times! Despite some their many failings, they still review picture books.
I can only assume that picture books are not a big source of revenue for Amazon, so they've shunted them aside this year. Same for all the non-fiction categories, I guess. I don't see any cookbooks. Science books and social justice books all have to fight for space among the general self-help books, etc.
Harmke wrote: "She read it and said: “I have this in my house, hanging on the wall. So beautiful you share this with me.” And there I was touched by accidentally picking just the right words."I love serendipity!!!
Jennifer W wrote: "I'm all about books that use multiple time lines/ POV, but for some reason, present day chick is getting on my nerves.."TOTALLY agree with this statement Jennifer! I hated the present day storyline in this book.
Allie wrote: "I feel like I have been a constant ball of stress for so long, I could just explode. Work has made ultimatums with several of us at work; "either meet these impossible standards, or else". We also ..."I'm sorry Allie. My workplace is struggling to retain associates too. They are trying to deliver messages in a more welcoming way, but we can all read right through the BS.
Jennifer W wrote: "I agree. Do what you can do and the rest they can shove.... lol, I'm probably not the best person to give job advice right now, because I wake up every morning saying "I just don't give a...." but ..."I wake up every morning with the EXACT same attitude Jennifer! HAHA
While I clicked on the link to the GR Choice awards (I must say that the home page looks far more enticing to me than ever before -- new design I believe), I don't have time to go through and consider voting. GR helpfully tells me which of the nominees I have on my shelves -- a whopping 2! Only one of which I actually read. Cloud Cuckoo Land is in my TBR but is not being read for a while as it is a possible option for my Feminerdy Book Club some time in 2022. Plus new books (this was just published) have to age and gather some dust on my TBR before I read them. The other book -- and it is one I would have written in and will vote for -- is She Who Became the Sun, published in July and read as a buddy read in August and discussed with Feminerdy Book Club in October.
That chilled what little excitement I had to see what they selected for us to vote on as clearly I not only have not read any of the selections, but they are not even on my TBR.
Nadine wrote: "That's extremely unappealing for me, a picture book lover. I used to count on the Goodreads Awards to highlight some popular books that I may have missed."YES. I have found books that I have loved and I purchased immediately.
Why is Dial A for Aunties in general fiction instead of romance?
Mod
I expected that one to be in mystery! It starts with a "dead body," after all.
Theresa wrote: "GR helpfully tells me which of the nominees I have on my shelves -- a whopping 2!"They only show everyone two. Each time I go back they show me different books. It would be more interesting if they showed all of the nominees I've marked, but I guess it's just there as an enticement to browse the categories?
I absolutely agree about Dial A for Aunties. I would have thought it would be in mystery. Plus I didn't like it that much, but that's a whole other matter.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Malibu Rising (other topics)Something Wicked This Way Comes (other topics)
The Goldfinch (other topics)
Wylding Hall (other topics)
Oryx and Crake (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Laura Hankin (other topics)Liane Moriarty (other topics)
Sarah Gailey (other topics)
Ilona Andrews (other topics)
Matt Haig (other topics)
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I also DNF'd this book this week. I only made it a few chapters but couldn't make myself pick it up again. I usually read 100 pages before I decide on a book, but rules are made to be broken.
Good luck with your new living situation. Hope it keeps you happy and healthy.