Where Does This Book Fit? the 2022 edition

[Medini]

normal people sally rooney??

[Nadine in NY]

Medini wrote: "normal people sally rooney??"


I feel certain that's a BookTok recommendation.

[David]

Caitlin wrote: "Hey all! Hoping this group can help!

Looking for prompts that will fit the following (3) books!

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

Matrix ..."

There's a sequel to The Thursday Murder Club so could read both as a duology. (I think that's what I'm going to do.)

Alternatively, depending how strictly you want to interpret the prompts, it could be considered as dealing with an afterlife of sorts.

Any ideas for the following, please?

The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - I'm thinking this could be 'A book featuring a parallel reality' as there's the real world and the world King is writing about, but I'm not entirely convinced.

Many thanks.

[Ellie]

David wrote: "There's a sequel to The Thursday Murder Club so could read both as a duology. (I think that's what I'm going to do.)..."

Book three is out this year so it's not a duology.

[Jen W.]

Sara wrote: "Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022.

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Game of Thrones
A Lesson in Vengeance...

A Lesson in Vengeance would work as a sapphic book, a book about a secret, and possibly a book about witches. I read it for the dark academia prompt last year, if you want to use it in the slot for a past prompt.

[Doni]

Jamie wrote: "Most of these probably will not fit, but I'm going to post them anyways and maybe I'll be surprised. These are my current books I own and have not read. I need to read them in 2022 or I'm donating ..."

I believe the Sea of Monsters could count for taking place on a cruise ship, if I remember correctly.

[Heather L]

Doni wrote: "Jamie wrote: "Most of these probably will not fit, but I'm going to post them anyways and maybe I'll be surprised. These are my current books I own and have not read. I need to read them in 2022 or..."

There was a ship in The Sea of Monsters, but not a cruise ship.

[David]

Ellie wrote: "David wrote: "There's a sequel to The Thursday Murder Club so could read both as a duology. (I think that's what I'm going to do.)..."

Book three is out this year so it's not a duology."

It's good enough for me (at least if I read it before the third is released.) :)

[Jaime]

Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?

I'm trying to do this with Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and would love to hear what overlapping prompts others have been able to identify.

[Ron]

Jaime wrote: "Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?

I'm trying to do this with Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and would love to hea..."

Jamie, I'm doing the Book Riot one too and this is my list of overlaps:


David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music
The Long Journey of the Nez Perce
The Wheel of Time Series 1-15 Books Collection Set Pack (Book 1-14) By Robert Jordan
Gay Pride and Prejudice

[Ellie]

Jaime wrote: "Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?.."

I'm not doing RH this year but past years I did overlap it. I did look at the prompts so... I think you could match social horror with BIPOC horror, BIPOC romance with BIPOC joy, and BIPOC SFF with BIPOC adventure. If you fancied watching a 2022 adaptation you could then read the book for the adaptation prompts. And both challenges have an ace spectrum character prompt. You may get be able to find a book by a disabled author writing about someone who uses a mobility aid. I think there's a tiger title book that won the women's prize too.

[Alex]

Does anyone have any ideas for the Lunar Chronicles books, please? I read Cinder for a mc with a mobility aid. And I am excited to read the rest of the series! What prompts could Scarlet, Cress, Fairest, Winter, and Stars Above fit into?

[Jaime]

Ron wrote: "Jaime wrote: "Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?

I'm trying to do this with Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and wou..."

I think I'll do Wheel of Time as an overlap also.

The other overlaps I'm looking at are:
All Systems Red for a character on the ace spectrum.
Royal Holiday (not really a book I would usually read) for a book set during a holiday, which also satisfies the RH prompt of a romance with a protagonist over 40.
Oryx and Crake for the man-made disaster, which has also probably been on my TBR list the longest.
Two Truths and a Lie for a book that can be read in one sitting, which is also a previous RH prompt from 2018.

I think I can probably pick a book out that is written by a disabled author that fulfills the protagonist that uses a mobility aid prompt also. There are just so many good ones to choose from. I haven't decided which one yet.

[Jaime]

Ellie wrote: "Jaime wrote: "Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?.."

I'm not doing RH this year but past years I did overlap it. I did..."

Oh yes. I was also planning to overlap social horror with horror by a BIPOC author. I'm deciding between Ring Shout and The Only Good Indians.

[Alex]

Jaime wrote: "Ron wrote: "Jaime wrote: "Does anyone complete more than one challenge in a year? If so, do you try to overlap as many prompts as possible?

I'm trying to do this with Book Riot's Read Harder Chall..."

I had never heard of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, but you got me looking into it. I am going to do that one too now.

The first overlap that I noticed was asexual character prompts. I am going to use The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy for those.

I am going to see what other overlaps I can come up with.

[Karisa]

Any ideas where these might fit?

The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
River Secrets, by Shannon Hale
Forest Born, by Shannon Hale
Company of Strangers #4: Shifting Loyalties, by Melissa McShane
Company of Strangers #5: Sands of Memory, by Melissa McShane
Company of Strangers #6: Call of Wizardry, by Melissa McShane

[Erica]

Alex wrote: "Does anyone have any ideas for the Lunar Chronicles books, please? I read Cinder for a mc with a mobility aid. And I am excited to read the rest of the series! What prompts could [b..."

Okay:
Scarlet has a few chapters set on a train.
Cress
Winter
Fairest
Stars Above this would fit found family the best, although everything but Fairest can fit too.

It's been awhile since I read this series and I can't remember when some of the overall story plot points occured. So you could probably use the secret prompt, party prompt, man made disaster because of the plague.

[Erica]

Karisa wrote: "Any ideas where these might fit?

The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
River Secrets, by Shannon Hale
Forest ..."

I've only read the Inheritance Games, and loved it.
It fits for the secret or the party prompts. I think it's recommended on TikTok. It is going to screen tbd, so maybe this year.

[Kaitlyn]

I just finished Every Day by David Leviathan (loved it!) ... I'm not sure if it fits any of the PopSugar categories though.

My eyes keep going back to #37 - a book about gender identity ... I don't feel like that's right though. The book has a lot of discussion in it around gender identity, but I don't believe this is the book's main theme.

I also keep looking at #46 - a book about someone leading a double life (I'm trying not to spoil the book; if you've read it, would you say this describes A's life?) ... I wasn't sure how the advanced prompts worked though; initially, I believed I had to get through all the regular prompts first, so then I was hesitant about even looking at them.

I guess, at the very least, I could use the book for #25 - a book about a secret ... it just seems like one of the easiest prompts to fill, and didn't want to use it up so quickly if Every Day can fit somewhere else.

Anyways, would love some thoughts, please and thank you!

[Ellie]

Kaitlyn wrote: "I just finished Every Day by David Leviathan (loved it!) ... I'm not sure if it fits any of the PopSugar categories though..."

You can do the advanced prompts whenever. There's actually an academic paper on gender identity in Every Day so I think that makes it qualify, unless you had another book you wanted to read for that prompt.

[Ron]

I'm trying to see if I can fit in Shout but it doesn't seem to work in any of them.

[Nadine in NY]

Alex wrote: "Does anyone have any ideas for the Lunar Chronicles books, please? I read Cinder for a mc with a mobility aid. And I am excited to read the rest of the series! What prompts could [b..."


I think they are all BookTok recommendations.

Scarlet could be for someone leading a double life (Wolf), and it also has scenes on a train.

Cress could be about a secret. (Really, they could all be about a secret.)

Fairest is very short, so it could be read in one sitting.

Winter could be about found family (really, any of them would work for this, but in Winter they all come together in one place, and Winter's family & Cinder's family - biological and adoptive - are both at the core of the story).

I'm pretty sure there is a party in the last short story in Stars Above.

[Nadine in NY]

Kaitlyn wrote: "II wasn't sure how the advanced prompts worked though; initially, I believed I had to get through all the regular prompts first, so then I was hesitant about even looking at them. ..."

You can do them any time you wish, in any order you wish, or you can skip them. I think back when Popsugar first started the reading challenge, they got some feedback that 50 prompts was too many for some readers, so they broke the list up. This way people who only want to hit 40 challenges had a nice list.

I treat the challenge as a list of 50 categories, and I tackle them all the same way, at random times of the year.

The "advanced" prompts aren't even particularly advanced, I wish Popsugar had called them something else, like "extra," or "themed." I think the first year they broke the list out into two parts, the "advanced" categories were a little bit harder, but now, they are just more categories, and the last two years have had a theme, which is fun and I hope they keep that going!

[Brandon]

Regarding The Sea of Monsters, the ship in question (Princess Andromeda) is a cruise ship. I just finished reading the next book in the series, and the author explicitly called it that when referencing it.

[Jaime]

Brandon wrote: "Regarding The Sea of Monsters, the ship in question (Princess Andromeda) is a cruise ship. I just finished reading the next book in the series, and the author explicitly called it that..."

It looks like the Riordan fandom wiki also refers to it as a cruise ship. It's a point where the movie and books differ.

I haven't read the books, but was planning to with my son, so this is even more incentive to get to the second one quickly.

[Debbie]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Really want to read a certain book in 2022, but can't seem to figure out if it will fit into a Challenge category? Get help here!"

Catch-22 could be a social horror. Horror of war. I think it also has a protagonist with a disability aid. I read it over 30 yrs ago so I might be wrong.

[Kaitlyn]

Ellie wrote: "You can do the advanced prompts whenever. There's actually an academic paper on gender identity in Every Day so I think that makes it qualify, unless you had another book you wanted to read for that prompt."

Thank you Ellie!
I don't have another book picked out for the prompt, I just wasn't sure if "Every Day" is ABOUT gender identity ... If you believe it counts, then I'll probably go ahead and do it :)

Nadine in NY wrote: "You can do them any time you wish, in any order you wish, or you can skip them. I think back when Popsugar first started the reading challenge, they got some feedback that 50 prompts was too many for some readers, so they broke the list up. This way people who only want to hit 40 challenges had a nice list."

Thank you for clarifying further Nadine! I thought maybe there were different levels - like do these 40 first for Level 1, and then if you finish those in time you can move on to Level 2 for the 10 advanced prompts. What you say makes sense though, and I appreciate you sharing some of the background history around the PopSugar challenge :)

[Ayesha (Seokjin's Version) ☾]

Does My Year of Rest and Relaxation fit in the prompt for misleading title?

[Cheryl]

One of my books for school is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Any ideas where I could fit this?

[Juliet]

Anyone have a place for A History of Wild Places?

[Alicia]

Cheryl, this is going to sound terrible, but could you put it under a book you know nothing about? Because you’re learning how to be effective and don’t know the 7 ways??

[Jackie]

Cheryl wrote: "One of my books for school is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Any ideas where I could fit this?"

Can you strategically read it right after a book ending in a T or an S?

Other ideas:

- a book about a secret: in that the book is attempting to teach you the 'secrets' of success
- a misleading title: I also had to read this book for school and remain convinced that these habits are not universal among 'highly effective people'
- for the past popsugar prompt there's the 2016 prompt of 'self-improvement'

[Jen W.]

Karisa wrote: "Any ideas where these might fit?

The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
River Secrets, by Shannon Hale
Forest ..."

The School for Good and Evil is supposed to be a movie in 2022.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935622/

[Amy]

Rita wrote: "My goal for next year is to read my shelves. I get so many books from the library and my own books end up neglected. Here’s my list from my bedroom shelf. I would love suggestions for prompts. I ma..."

You've got two that fit for sister cities:
An American Marriage is set in Atlanta
Ariadne is set in Ancient Greece (from what I can tell)

Atlanta's sister cities: https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/...

[Eira]

Can someone tell me if Poltergeist fits anywhere?! Please!

[Nadine in NY]

Hopefully someone here has read the Darko Dawson mystery series and can help me. I'm moving books around like one of those tile puzzles.

Here's my convoluted question: I'm currently reading The Confession of Copeland Cane, and I wanted to see if I could fit it into the 2022 Challenge somewhere. (Not in social horror, because I have another book slotted there.) The only open place it really fits for me is "sister cities" - it's set in Oakland, so I looked up Oakland's sister cities, and it's a mixed bag. There are a few books I kinda sorta want to read that are kinda sorta set in a sister city. I'm not super enthusiastic about them, except for Ghana. The best fit, for me, is Murder at Cape Three Points, set in Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana). This is the THIRD book in the Darko Dawson series. I happen to be reading the first book (Wife of the Gods) right now! (Sadly, it's not set near Sekondi-Takoradi, or I'd have no questions!) I have it penciled in for "book with two languages" because it's got a bit of Ewe dialogue.

So, my question is: do I need to read the second book in this series (Children of the Street) before I read the third book? And, if I do, what category might that book fit?

(Not "about a secret," I'm about to start reading The Last Thing He Told Me right now for that category. Unless this book can fit somewhere else ...)


To be clear, I'm not completely opposed to reading Children of the Street if I need it to understand the series, and not using it for this Challenge. But if I do need to read it, it would be nicest if I could use it for this Challenge also.

[Mollie]

I just read Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. Does that fit for a book about someone leading a double life?

[Beth]

Eira wrote: Can someone tell me if Poltergeist fits anywhere?

It should fit into a book about the afterlife.

[Thali]

Hey guys, so my friend recommended House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas and I just bought it on kindle cause it was 65% off!
I was wondering if it fits any propmt specially the #OwnVoices Fantasy & Science one.

Cheers!

[Becky]

Has anyone read The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson? If so, does it fit an #OwnVoices SFF book? If not, what prompts might it fulfill? This is one on my shelf that I’d like to read this year.

[Alicia]

Thalita, “ownvoices” refers to books with underrepresented or marginalized groups and the author shares that. Sarah J Maas wouldn’t fit that.

It definitely would fit a booktok recommendation, or if you like Charlaine Harris she did a review on the Amazon page.

[Meghan]

Hi! Has anyone read Ducks, Newburyport and have suggestions for which prompt it could fit? I'm about halfway through and so far the best I could come up with is a bit of a stretch - a book about a parallel reality by considering the narrator's internal life as the parallel reality. Any better suggestions? Given the heft, I'd really like to make it count!

[LeahS]

Meghan wrote: "Hi! Has anyone read Ducks, Newburyport and have suggestions for which prompt it could fit? I'm about halfway through and so far the best I could come up with is a bit of a stretch -..."

Could you use it for prompt 26, 'Book with a misleading title'? - if you were hoping for a natural history of ducks, you'd be mistaken. Otherwise, you might find a past prompt for it - e.g.it won the Goldsmiths Prize, so you could use it for 2019 prompt, book that won a prize.

[Jacqie]

Meghan wrote: "Hi! Has anyone read Ducks, Newburyport and have suggestions for which prompt it could fit? I'm about halfway through and so far the best I could come up with is a bit of a stretch -..."

I read this book last year for my "longest book on TBR prompt" and thought it was worth it! It doesn't exactly have recipes in it but the author bakes and thinks about the food she is making and how she makes it quite a bit.

[Caitlin]

Any suggestions for where A Heart So Fierce and Broken (Cursebreakers #2) fits? I saw it listed somewhere as a book with two languages, but does that truly fit? Any other prompts it would fit?

[Ron]

Would Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir work for either the 'gender identity' category or would it work somewhere else?

I know technically being a tomboy isn't about gender identity but it is about finding a place where you fit in when you don't fit among the girls or among the boys.

[Natashia]

My bookclub is planning on reading "The Bookshop of Yesterdays" I am struggling on where to place it on the reading challenge. Any tips? Thank you!!

[Jim]

I finished The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman, but don't know which prompt, if any, it fits. Is anyone willing to help?

[Alicia]

I haven’t read it but…

did the book you read before end in “t”

was any of it set in the 1980s (he didn’t die till the 90s)

did you know about him before reading? If not, you could do something you know nothing about

[Kim]

my next book to read (because of needing to return it to the library due to a bold list lol) is It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. What prompts would it fit?