Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2025 Challenge - General
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Excited chatter while we wait for the 2025 list!!!
Britany wrote: "Dedra ~ A Book Wanderer wrote: "First time in the 5 years I’ve been participating that I’m not done with the current challenge before the new list comes out, but I’m determined to finish. Can’t wai..."Happy to know I'm not alone. We can do it!
Mod
Yeah I'm not thrilled either. I'm not going to read a book I've TRULY been avoiding, I think I'll pick a book that I've been aware of most of my life but just never read, like this is a good year to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mod
LOL you took the thoughts right out of my head - that is the EXACT reaction I had!!!
(I may end up hating "left handed character" just as much as I hated "24 yo character" though ... how am I supposed to know if the character is left-handed?????)
Mod
I went looking for that too - they do usually seem to have a long list of suggestions for each prompt ready to go upon release of the list, but maybe they are planning to dole them out slowly this time? maybe they didn't realize they used to do that, since this is a new crew?
Last year they set up something in FB with a photo for each category, which I found very awkward to use. They might be doing that again this year, but they haven't done it yet.
Brandon wrote: "Some of them are fun, others are ok, and a couple just have me angry.The "book with a GR rating under 3 stars" is troubling because almost any book I can think of has a rating of at least 3.25 st..."
I think I just won't be doing those two because I'm not going to read junk and like you if I've avoided a book there's a reason I am very disappointed in the 2025 prompts.
Go, go, go Lynn and Nadine! Thanks for all your hard work!
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LOL my shoulder got tired this morning from all the cut/paste/mousing - I had to go do windmills in my kitchen during lunch!
Nadine in NY wrote: " how am I supposed to know if the character is left-handed?????)."As a mystery reader, it's bound to come up at some point. You know, this wound MUST have been inflicted by a left-handed assailant, or some such situation.
Google famous lefties and read a memoir or biography about one! :)
Jennifer W wrote: "Google famous lefties and read a memoir or biography about one! :)"i love this!
i have a whole shelf dedicated to books about food trucks! i love that: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
does anyone have tips for the oldest author prompt? i normally try to interpret the prompts as literally as possible so i don't want to pick an old classic if i don't have to
rachel x wrote: "i have a whole shelf dedicated to books about food trucks! i love that: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list......"Ooh! The Music of What Happens has a food truck? That's been on my list for years, thanks!
Jennifer W wrote: "rachel x wrote: "i have a whole shelf dedicated to books about food trucks! i love that: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list......"you're most welcome! i hope you enjoy
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As a mystery reader, it's bound to come up at some point. You know, this wound MUST have been inflicted by a..."
I am COUNTING on you to add mysteries with lefties to our Listopia!!
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I am extremely stumped on what to do with that one. I wish I thought they meant "oldest book" because it's very easy to sort TBR by pub date.
But I actually think they mean "oldest living author" which is a different animal entirely. I've got one really big TBR and a few shorter TBRs, I think I'll take a shorter one and just sort of eyeball it and look up author ages and hope I found the oldest and call that good enough.
Not all authors make their birth year public knowledge, which makes this category deeply annoying.
I don't love the AI prompt; I'm either going to use that as a placeholder to read a second book by an author or part of a series, or I'll use it for a book with an AI or robot intelligence in it.Excited about a lot of these, though!
This is the second year in a row I've been disappointed by this list. I wish that the authors of the list would consider what people might actually be interested in reading when they make these prompts. Yes, it's challenging to have such specific prompts, but I don't do these lists merely for the challenge. I also want to enjoy what I read.Also, "challenging" and "oddly specific" are not the same thing.
A food truck? A run club? Soccer? The oldest author on my tbr? A married couple that don't live together? A goodreads rating under 3 stars? Sigh.
And I absolutely will not be using a chatbot to recommend me a book.
I don't want to be harsh, but I used to find this challenge so inspiring, and now it's two years in a row I've felt disappointed. Not sure if I will be participating, but I'll see if I can find any books for the prompts I don't like that interest me.
Actually the oldest author prompt is kind of confusing. Does it matter how old the author was when they wrote the book? Or is it simply the oldest living author and it doesn't matter when they wrote the book? I'm assuming dead authors don't count?I wish this prompt was a book written by an author when they were over the age of "blank" or something similar.
Erin wrote: "Also, "challenging" and "oddly specific" are not the same thing.. I don't want to be harsh, but I used to find this challenge so inspiring, and now it's two years in a row I've felt disappointed."i have to agree! this used to a be a fun 'challenge' but now it's too challenging to be fun. the married couple living apart is going to find
This year was my first doing this so I like the new list better than the 2024 list, I thought the 24 was overused and found some prompts too annoyingly restrictive, as I've ranted about previously and won;'t repeat.I AM a little stumped at some of them....food truck? Run club?
Unlike some on here, I am interested in seeing what I have for oldest author and less than 3 star rating.
rachel x wrote: "does anyone have tips for the oldest author prompt? i normally try to interpret the prompts as literally as possible so i don't want to pick an old classic if i don't have to"Margaret Atwood is currently 85 years old. I think she is the oldest author on my tbr. She has fiction, nonfiction, and poetry collections to choose from. Hope that helps! =)
Ended up coming here for the sole purpose of sighing lol I've been keeping an eye on the lists over the last few years, having picked this up in the 2010s. The quality of the list-making is going downhill rapidly, we're now (as a previous user said) getting into "oddly specific" territory. As someone who loathes sports... Absolutely loathes beyond *loathes* sports... I'm not too happy about these fitness prompts. Yet, as a different previous commenter said, not surprised with this. If the website has been doing a "fitness and wellspo" pivot, go figure it's ended up on the list. The AI prompt simply disgusts me. In a world where we're celebrating people's creativity in the art form of writing, I'd rather not encourage using chatbots that steal jobs from people who write for a living.
A loophole for that one is using the Goodreads Recommendations prompt. Find your favourite book, look at its genre tags, and go to Recommendations using those genre tags. This is the most ethical solution where you're still using "AI" but it's not the writer/art prompt kind that's responsible for all the controversy of AI.
The AI one is ... ugh. But I have a workshop in May from Uni where we have to program our own, and my plan is to ask that (probably not very good, but DIY) bot what to read. Or maybe I'll read AI Snakeoil for the prompt and call it a day.
Erin wrote: "rachel x wrote: "does anyone have tips for the oldest author prompt? i normally try to interpret the prompts as literally as possible so i don't want to pick an old classic if i don't have to"..."thanks for the recommendation!
Brandon wrote: "Some of them are fun, others are ok, and a couple just have me angry.The "book with a GR rating under 3 stars" is troubling because almost any book I can think of has a rating of at least 3.25 st..."
OMG agreed! I thought I was going crazy but the under 3 stars and last sentence prompts (and book you have avoided, now that you mention it) feel like actively hostile prompts, malicious, even, towards readers. Like, it feels like someone who doesn't read books (and resents people who read books) came up with some of these prompts in order to ruin reader's enjoyment! Which is so strange to me because some of the other prompts are truly excellent and sound like a lot of fun.
I only just discovered the Popsugar reading challenge this year (2024) and decided to try it out (and have enjoyed it), but I think I'm going to pass on the 2025 challenge. I was looking for alternatives and the Shelf Reflection's 2025 Reading Challenge seems much more my speed, so I might try doing that one instead. I'll be interested to see what the 2026 Popsugar challenge looks like.
Left-handed characters (from googling - take with a grain of salt)Roland Deschain (Stephen King)
Ned Flanders (if you read a Simpson comic)
Arya Stark
Link (from Zelda)
James (from Outlander)
Hiccup (at least in the movies)
Coraline (at least in the movie)
Robert Ewell (To Kill a Mockingbird)
MC Escher (if you read a book of his art)
Barak Obama (he has written a number of books)
Jack the Ripper (if you read true crime)
Plus many mystery writers have used the trope of a staged suicide but the gun was placed in the right hand of a left handed person. I refused to read this list as its a huge spoiler.
Mod
OMG you are not wrong!! And that is the funniest image! I picture a Maleficent type person gleefully rubbing their hands and crying: "mwahahaha! I'll show these readers what's what! I will make them SUFFERRRRRRRrrrrrrr!!"
Victoria wrote: "Frogli wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "From the NYT (they were talking about the "Coffee gets Cold" series in particular):a booming genre called “healing fiction” — cozy, feel-good novels that have lo..."
A cat prescription sounds amazing. I have two cats right and I lucked out because they are both pretty cuddly. (Other cats I have had have not been cuddlers at all.)
Dubhease wrote: "Left-handed characters (from googling - take with a grain of salt)"
Vassa In The Night has a character that is JUST a left hand.
Katy wrote: "Like, it feels like someone who doesn't read books (and resents people who read books) came up with some of these prompts in order to ruin reader's enjoyment! Which is so strange to me because some of the other prompts are truly excellent and sound like a lot of fun..."Sounds like booktok made the list, jkjk.
I like the first prompt: poc experiencing joy and not trauma, and that's about it lol. I actually found this year's list more fun. I'll still give it a shot since I've been doing this since its inception but I don't know how much I'll prioritize this challenge like in past years.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Katy wrote: "... feel like actively hostile prompts, malicious, even, towards readers. Like, it feels like someone who doesn't read books (and resents people who read books) came up with some of th..."Joke's on them, I'm into that.
Actually, I really like seeing how many of the prompts I can fulfill with monster romance. :D
Nadine in NY wrote: "I actually read a book involving a food truck that I really really loved!!! The Way You Make Me Feel - her dad runs a Korean food truck, she works there sometimes, the love interest works in another food truck (for coffee, I think? it's been a while since I read it ...)So now I need to find ANOTHER food truck book that I haven't read yet..."
I read Simmer Down by Sarah Smith a couple years ago. It's set in Maui and she runs a food truck and has issues with another food truck and competition ensues. I rated it 4 stars which mean I really liked it (I'm a hard rater, almost nothing gets 5 stars from me).
Steph wrote: "The less than 3 stars prompt is the only one that jumps out at me as one I'm dreading. I'll be interested to see some suggestions"I'm a little worried about his one because if people start rating these books won't the average go up? So we may have to find this one early in the year.
Jennifer W wrote: "I was interpreting it as the oldest aged author on your list. Not sure how I'm going to figure that one out..."OH! Me too. I didn't think of it as the author you've had on your TBR the longest.
Doni wrote: "I love the prompt 'healing fiction' and 'a book about a nontraditional education.'"A while back I read The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise and she lives in a bus with her Dad traveling around. So it could work for 'a book about a nontraditional education' but also the one about going on a journey.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Brandon wrote: "I also am upset with the "book you have always avoided" prompt because if I have always avoided the book, then there is a good reason for that...."Yeah I'm not thrilled either. I'm not going to read a book I've TRULY been avoiding, I think I'll pick a book that I've been aware of most of my life but just never read, like this is a good year to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde..."
I'm gonna interpret this the same way. Something I haven't been specifically avoiding so much as haven't read yet even though it's been lounging around my TBR periphery for years.
Dubhease wrote: "Left-handed characters (from googling - take with a grain of salt)Roland Deschain (Stephen King)
Ned Flanders (if you read a Simpson comic)
Arya Stark
Link (from Zelda)
James (from Outlander)
Hiccup (at least in the movies)
Coraline (at least in the movie)
Robert Ewell (To Kill a Mockingbird)
MC Escher (if you read a book of his art)
Barak Obama (he has written a number of books)
Jack the Ripper (if you read true crime)."
Thanks for this!
Maybe Obama will release his second Promised Land book soon??? You said it was the first of two...I've been waiting years Man! LOL! I could read one of his older ones though.
I actually feel much better about the prompts that I ragged on earlier. Some of it is mental adjustment time, and the rest is the creativity and support of this group's members in finding ways to make things work out in positive ways.I can choose one of the books that I own that I just wasn't in the proper mood for earlier as a book that I've always avoided.
Brandon wrote: "I actually feel much better about the prompts that I ragged on earlier. Some of it is mental adjustment time, and the rest is the creativity and support of this group's members in finding ways to m..."I might interpret that one by reading a book where watching the movie has stalled me in reading the book.
Mod
This happens to me, too. I think I recoiled from half of the prompts when I first saw the list, but I'm slowly making my peace with them, and there are now only a few I'm dreading. (Hoping to find a good book for them, too!! I've got 13 months to find one!!)
Not sure wether I will participate this time. I don’t think I can make myself read about soccer (and I’m German…). Also miss me with that Elon Musk AI and space tourism shit. But there are also interesting and fun prompts. Is there a book about a road trip with a food truck? That would be right up my alley. And a book about cults? I’m gonna read at least one of those anyways. I wish my perfectionism would allow me to be fine with doing only half the challenge.
Dubhease wrote: "Left-handed characters (from googling - take with a grain of salt)Roland Deschain (Stephen King)
Ned Flanders (if you read a Simpson comic)
Arya Stark
Link (from Zelda)
James (from Outlander)
Hic..."
Oh yes! A book about Jack the Ripper! Thank you
I am so antsy waiting to start the new challenge. I'm checking my goodreads page 10-15 times a day looking for something new. I don't know what I expect to change though lol.I cant seem to pick a book to read. I want to save them all for the new challenge.
How is everyone doing today?
Mod
I cant seem to pick a..."
I have a list of about 20 books I plan to read "first" in 2025 LOL. I have no idea how that's going to go. I've got a big backlog of books I've been meaning to get to, so I'm not having trouble picking a book to read right now. If I start it and it fits a 2025 category, I set it aside and pick another. (That's how I ended up with a long list to read "first")
For 2024 I was pretty disappointed because so many of the prompts only worked for fiction books. I'm a nonfiction reader. 80% of what I read on a given year is nonfiction. I am so excited for the 2025 challenge though, there's more room in terms of prompt selection to choose nonfiction books. I was going through the list and 32 of the books I've chosen are nonfiction. I'm skipping 3 prompts, so that leaves me with only 14 fiction (one book I'm double-dipping so technically it's 15).
Still, the fact that my nonfiction overpowers my fiction books has me fangirling like a child. I've struggled with many of the prompts in past years, because again they all some how only work for a majority of fiction reads. This year I'll be able to participate in a larger capacity.
I saved my spot in the board, but the more I look at these prompts, I think that for the first time in years, I'm going to skip this. There are always prompts that I don't enjoy on the list that I have found books to read, but I want to spend a reasonable amount of time finding a book. I don't want to do a deep dive into my TBR (which is in the thousands combined) to try to pinpoint exactly what author is oldest. I also don't want to try to have to go play detective to determine who may or may not be left handed or going through menopause in a book. I want to read books I enjoy, not books that feel like a chore just to check the prompt off a list. I participate in other challenges and so I think I'm just going to lean heavily towards them this year instead and come back again next year. This is supposed to be fun to challenge yourself, not feel like homework and that's where I'm feeling this is right now.Sorry for the rant, but I'm just really frustrated with the prompts this year.
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a booming genre called “healing fiction” — cozy, feel-good novels that have long been popular..."
There's a new series that would fit this - We'll Prescribe You A Cat by Syou Ishida. First book came out in English this year. Book 2 will be released mid-2025