Where Does This Book Fit? the 2022 edition

[Alicia]

But grunt, gulp, and fuzz aren’t pronounced like the sounds either. Or looking at the listopia I see whispering, murmur, sizzling, pachinko, flicker, breaking and more.

I guess I don’t understand how those sound like the sound when said. Beat would be in line with those, right?

[Alicia]

Also not trying to be argumentative. I just really don’t understand this prompt and how come work and others don’t.

[Jex]

@Elizabeth I've never read it before but Pandora's Jar could fit in the following categories:
• A book about witches (loose fit because this mainly refers to Circe)
• A book that occurs during your favorite season
• A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read (if you really want to read it and haven't read a book ending in 'P' then you can find a book title that fits the requirements of another prompt that ends in 'P')
• A book you can read in 1 sitting (if your really dedicated to finishing it in 1 sitting, haha)
• A book about a secret (The Trojan war in other telling have secrets in them, primarily the secret that the Trojan horse was not a gift but an infiltration device. May be a loose fit but the female characters in the stories may have secrets as well)
• A book you know nothing about
• A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar challenge (go through past challenges and find one that fits)
• A book with 2 POVs (it sounds like it's about multiple characters so it might feature numerous POVs)

My advice is to read the book first and then see what prompt it fits under. It could fit under a category not mentioned here. You can also shift around some of your other reads to different prompts to accommodate this book. Hope this helps! :)

[Heather L]

Alicia wrote: "But grunt, gulp, and fuzz aren’t pronounced like the sounds either. Or looking at the listopia I see whispering, murmur, sizzling, pachinko, flicker, breaking and more.

I guess I don’t understand..."

The thing about the listopia is that anyone can enter a title, and people have been known to add books to lists that don’t fit the prompt. If I see a book in one of the listopias that is on my shelf, I try to follow up with my own research, or ask someone else if that book really fits. In your example I’d say gulp might fit, but not fuzz.

Your complaint, though, mirrors a comment I made last year in the prompt suggestion thread (and which others have also commented on) about some terms being too difficult for people to understand (especially those who aren’t native English speakers) and, therefore, hard to fulfill. Seems like we have this problem every year, but the folks at Popsugar fail to learn from it.

[Ron]

Alicia wrote: "Also not trying to be argumentative. I just really don’t understand this prompt and how come work and others don’t."

This is what has me confused too so I get where you're coming from.

[Nadine in NY]

Alicia wrote: "Also not trying to be argumentative. I just really don’t understand this prompt and how come work and others don’t."



It can be confusing! I googled it, and Google agrees with Heather. Googling "is the word heartbeat onomatopoeia" you get suggestions like "tu-tum / tu-tump (heartbeat onomatopoeia) " and "Thump Thump · Ba Boom · Ba Bump · Lub-Dub · Mmm Mmm · Bum Bum" and (from reddit) "Thoomp-thoomp," "Bump-bump," or "Thump-bump." So it seems the word "heartbeat" itself is not onomatopoeia. The etymology is that "beat" is from Middle English beten.

This is, of course, up to each reader. If someone thinks the word "beat" sounds like a heartbeat and they want to use it as onomatopoeia, go for it!

Super thankful for autocorrect right now, because I can NOT spell onomatopoeia.

[Elizabeth]

Cleodhora wrote: "@Elizabeth I've never read it before but Pandora's Jar could fit in the following categories:
• A book about witches (loose fit because this mainly refers to Circe)
• A book that occurs during your..."

Very helpful! Thank you! I'll have to move somethings around, but I hope I can get this to work!

[Anushka]

I just read The Year of Yes, and not sure where it fits. I was thinking 'featuring a party' since she does mention going to parties, but tbh it's a bit of a stretch

[LeahS]

Anushka wrote: "I just read The Year of Yes, and not sure where it fits. I was thinking 'featuring a party' since she does mention going to parties, but tbh it's a bit of a stretch"

I see that she is saying 'no' to something that might be accepted with a 'yes', so perhaps it could fit 'book with a misleading title'?

[Melissa]

Please help me figure out where these go

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Recursion

The Final Girl Support Group

[Mony]

Melissa0919, had some time on my hands --- family away. Maybe these work for you. :)

The Final Girl Support Group
- social horror (gender)
- Board Game: Final Girl https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
- A book about someone leading a double life
- A book about a secret
- Social horror
- Board game- https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4...

Recursion
- A book featuring a parallel reality?
- NY as a sister city; partnered with ….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

[Ron]

Trying to find nonfiction for the prompt: Romance by a BIPOC author.

I have one, To Selena, With Love, but I've read it so many times that I'm kind of bored with it.

[Nadine in NY]

Ron wrote: "Trying to find nonfiction for the prompt: Romance by a BIPOC author.

I have one, To Selena, With Love, but I've read it so many times that I'm kind of bored with it."


Normally I'm a hardliner about the definition of "romance" because the genre is unfairly maligned, but I'll stretch in this case!

These are "romance adjacent":
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett & Courtney Vance
True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart (which I think is also called How to Love) by Thich Nhat Hanh
My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir by Mark Whitaker
Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History by Danzy Senna
Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni (if you're okay with poetry)


This one isn't even "romance adjacent" but it's got the word in the title (I read this book and it was pretty good):
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Might be hard to find:
Victoria and Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant by Shrabani Basu
Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages Between the Two World Wars by Anastasia C. Curwood
Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women by Nura Maznavi
Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance by Alexis Clark



These look like non-fiction romances, but I can't tell if the authors are BIPOC:
Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love and Revolution by Luisita López Torregrosa
Widow Basquiat: A Love Story by Jennifer Clement
James and Esther Cooper Jackson: Love and Courage in the Black Freedom Movement by Sara Rzeszutek

[Ron]

What a selection! Thanks so much Nadine.

[Dubhease]

Melissa0919 wrote: "Please help me figure out where these go

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Recursion

The Final Girl Support Group"

I read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. I'm planning to read My Best Friend's Exorcism in October and counting them as a duology, Apparently, they're set in the same neighborhood and the author says the books are kind of related.

[Mandy]

I’m wondering if Wish would fit gender identity.

The angels and demons in the book do not have gender. Would that count? Or maybe found family?

[Nadine in NY]

Mandy wrote: "I’m wondering if Wish would fit gender identity.

The angels and demons in the book do not gender. Would that count? Or maybe found family?"




I'm not familiar with that one so I don't know . From the GR description it looks like a good "found family" book.

[Alicia]

Mandy, does the book talk about them being gender-less?

I would say if they refer to the characters as he/she Amd don’t discuss the gender of the angels and demons outright, then it wouldn’t fit.

[Mandy]

Alicia wrote: "Mandy, does the book talk about them being gender-less?

I would say if they refer to the characters as he/she Amd don’t discuss the gender of the angels and demons outright, then it wouldn’t fit."

In the original 90s version they specifically say that they are genderless but would refer to all angels as her and all demons as he.

There is a scene where the kohaku says to a character trying to refer to them with gender that they are not a lady or a man but an angel.

[Heather]

Where would Outlander and Shadow and Bone fit?

[Nadine in NY]

Heather wrote: "Where would Outlander and Shadow and Bone fit?"



They both would work for "found family," and I bet they are both recommended often on BookTok. They both involve a secret, of sorts (in Shadow & Bone there's the whole thing with the dark lord, in Outlander they keep her modern origins a secret).

This doesn't work for Shadow & Bone, but if you continue reading books in the "Grishaverse," both Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom and King of Scars/Rule of Wolves are duologies.

[Alicia]

Also the first book in outlander you could use for witches.

[Cheryl]

I am fairly certain I got the idea to read the book Birdie by Tracey Lindberg from this group, but I don't know what the prompt was. Any ideas?

[Medini]

Can i read 'eating the sun: small musings on a vast universe' by Ella Frances Sanders for the prompt for a book with a constellation on the cover?

[Medini]

Eating the Sun: Small Musings on a Vast Universe

[Nadine in NY]

Medini wrote: " Eating the Sun: Small Musings on a Vast Universe"



I'd say YES. And that looks like an interesting little book!!!

[Medini]

Thank you :)

[Kimberly]

Is there a prompt that fits “One of us is Next”?

[Nadine in NY]

Kimberly wrote: "Is there a prompt that fits “One of us is Next”?"



Obviously it's about a secret. Also might fit "book by an author you read in 2021" and there is a wedding, which is a type of party.

[Kimberly]

Great - thank you!

[Melinda]

Would The Many Daughters of Ahfong Moy qualify as #12- a book about the afterlife?

[Medini]

Would  The Haunting season: Ghostly Tales for long winter nights fit for the prompt of a book about the afterlife?

[Nadine in NY]

Medini wrote: "Would  The Haunting season: Ghostly Tales for long winter nights fit for the prompt of a book about the afterlife?"



I read a book about a ghost (Black Water Sister) for "afterlife" so I assume that book would work too.

[Medini]

Thank you Nadine :)

[Wanda]

Where might I use The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

[Alicia]

A Handmaids stale is definitely a social horror

[Mony]

Alicia wrote: "A Handmaids stale is definitely a social horror"

yes, I was about to write that too...

[Wanda]

Thank you

[Lauren]

Anyone have any ideas of where Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism could fit?

[Alicia]

Great book, but hard to place. I’d say BookTok recommendation or I’m sure their are past prompts that would fit. In 2020, it would fit prompt involving social or prompt with a title that caught your attention. Or 2021, book published in 2021

[Juliana]

I’m struggling to fit in the two books I just read “It Happened One Summer” and “Hook, Line and Sinker” by Tessa Bailey. Any suggestions?

[Mony]

1. It Happened One Summer
- Favourite season
- Board Game - ONE
- Party?

2. Hook, Line and Sinker
- Board Game - HOOK
- Party?
- Takes place during your favourite season

[monica gaither]

Does anyone have any suggestions to where Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon would fit? Thanks in advance!

[Mony]

@ monica gaither

- Name of Board game- HELLO: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...

- published in 2022

[Martha]

Hi! Any suggestions for some of these books I've already read this year and am looking to retrofit into my challenges?

Just Like You
Brown Girls
Untamed (I've already checked off sapphic lol)
A Natural History of Dragons
Sex and Vanity
We Love You, Charlie Freeman

[Mony]

Lots of fun...like doing a puzzle

Just Like You - 40. Check past Popsugar prompts

Brown Girls
18. BIPOC
Pub. 2022
#49 & 50- NYC - a sister city
#24 A book you can read in one day

Untamed- 32 Quote from a favorite author on the cover - use this cover


A Natural History of Dragons- 30 BOARD GAME - "Dragons" https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3...

Sex and Vanity
18. BIPOC author
25 A book about a secret
28 A book set during a holiday

We Love You, Charlie Freeman
18. BIPOC
32 Quote from a favorite author on the cover

[monica gaither]

Thank you!

Mony wrote: "@ monica gaither

- Name of Board game- HELLO: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...

- published in 2022"

[Mony]

welcome ☺️

[Martha]

Ooh, wait, are we interpreting "during a holiday" as being able to use the British definition of holiday (ie vacation) and not my American understanding (ie festivity/celebration)?

[Mony]

I think this helps...both apply
Holiday- definition: a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done.