Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2025 Challenge - Regular
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09 - A book that features a character going through menopause
Yeah this one does seem super specific, but I think I found one that I might use. Looks funny at least. Let It All Burn
Jen W. wrote: "I found an existing listopia for ideas:https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."
There's a book about a perimenopausal mermaid!
The one that pops in to mind for me here is Mary by Nat Cassidy. I’ve mostly heard good things about it. The main character is based on Stephen King’s Carrie.
Mod
REALLY? I started that but my library loan expired so I put the audiobook on hold and the wait has been FOREVER and now I'm GLAD, I'll just push it out to January and it will be perfect. Thank you!
Dubhease wrote: "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was the only one I could think of"Good idea. Set in Alabama if doing any sort of fifty state challenge and listed in 500 Great Books by Women which I peck away at.
This will definitely be a category I need help with, or else some extremely serendipitous reading.
My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes would fit here. It’s part of her series about the Walsh family, and focuses on Anna, who’s 48 and going through perimenopause (while moving back home to Ireland from New York, starting a new job and dealing with an old flame).
Gray Hair Don't Care by Karen Booth fits this one really well! I read it this year as my choice for second chance romance and I really liked it.
I just read Since I Could Die Tomorrow, Volume 1 for the 42 year old prompt. It's a manga that deals with the main character thinking she's going through menopause. I don't think she gets a straight answer from her doctor, but I think this could workIt wasn't my favorite, but if no better options come up, I'll probably read vol 2
Michelle wrote: "Yeah this one does seem super specific, but I think I found one that I might use. Looks funny at least. Let It All Burn"Great suggestion! 🙂
Without yet knowing what to read I do love the subject though. It's about time that this topic drops the layers of shame. And since I'm going through menopause myself right now (without suffering a great deal, however there has been a few extreme explosions of anger from absolutely nowhere and I've given my partner and my sons some scary experiences lol! but luckily only a few times. Extremely interesting though) I'd love to read a fiction book about this. Have gotten enough facts from nonfiction.
I love this!
Dubhease wrote: "Jen W. wrote: "I found an existing listopia for ideas:https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."
There's a book about a perimenopausal mermaid!"
Which title is that? Love it (☆▽☆)
I wish Popsugar would publish recommendation lists like the BookRiot Read Harder challenge, especially when it comes to these really specific prompts
Further reading - All the rage: the rise of the menopause novel:https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Mod
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202..."
Super helpful!
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."
This is great, thank you!
Towards the end of the book one of the main characters in Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes talks about how she thinks she's going through menopause. I just stumbled into this chapter while reading it for this years PSRC!
Sandwich by Catherine Newman would fit this prompt. As a woman of about the same age, this was a 5 star read for me. There is also a LGBTQ+ character, and trigger warning, there is an abortion.It is the story of a woman in the sandwich time--grown kids and aging parents.
Dani wrote: "I wish Popsugar would publish recommendation lists like the BookRiot Read Harder challenge, especially when it comes to these really specific prompts"They usually do, I'm not sure why the new person chose not to this year. I guess she has her own method.
I'm not sure what I want to go with so far, I'll wait a bit I think.
I think I'm going with Sandwich, I've heard a lot about it and it looks interesting
Papoosed: An Essie Cobb Senior Sleuth Mystery by Patricia Rockwell I guess? Four women in senior center solving the mystery of how a newborn showed up in their center at Christmas. They might mention no longer being in a child-bearing age anymore. Apparently it's a book 2, but it's a cozy mystery, I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. it was a good book, short(275 pages according to Kindle, sorry), and a little silly.
I may go for Girls Will Be Girls: A Novella and Short Stories by Leslea Newman. Only one of the stories appears to be about a menopausal character, but the prompt doesn't say it has to be the focus of the book, and I like her writing.
I found a humorous short book in my search, if like me you like to use picture books for your least favorite prompts.
I have Mary by Nat Cassidy on my kindle so I’m picking that one but I found an easy backup just in case.
I recently read In the Lonely Hours and one of the main characters there mentions going through menopause a couple of times.
Found this description and perimenopause is almost menopauseAll FoursAll Fours
Miranda JulyBy Miranda July
July’s second novel, which follows a married mother and artist who derails a solo cross-country road trip by checking into a motel close to home and starting an affair with a younger rental-car worker, was the year’s literary conversation piece, dubbed “the talk of every group text — at least every group text composed of women over 40” and “the first great perimenopause novel” in just two of many articles that wrestled with its themes. Sexually frank and laced with the novelist’s loopy humor, the book ends up posing that most universal question: What would you risk to change your life? Read our review.
I know Naomi Watts is coming out with a semi-autobiography about her struggles with menopause. Anyone know when this is released?
The audiobook is read by my fav narrator, January LaVoy and is excellent if you like audiobooks.Bea wrote: "Found a book that excites me: The Change by Kirsten Miller"
I have not had a chance to read it, but one of the ladies in my in-person book club recently recommended The Hot Flash Club, by Nancy Thayer.
Actually going to do Amazing Grace Adams so I can use Sandwich for same title two books
This is a short Christmas book that I saw recommended: Mrs. Claus Has Menopause: A Humorous Christmas Book for Women of a Certain Age. I thought it looked fun.
In Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, one of the main characters, Frances, is going through menopause
Today's NPR Book of the Day podcast talks with the author of All Fours by Miranda July and she conducted interviews with women going through perimenopause and menopause as research for the book.
I read Baking Cakes in Kigali quite some years ago. If I remember correctly, the POV character talks about the Change and hot flushes.Oh, and this one just came up in the Kindle Monthly Deal: Broken Light, Joanne Harris. The Amazon description starts: "Bernie Moon has given her life to other people: her husband, her son, her friends (who are these days, mostly online). At nineteen she was full of dreams and ambitions; now almost fifty, and going through the menopause, she's fading, fast. Heartbroken and hormonal, she often feels like she's losing her mind."
There's a new nonfiction book on NetGalley, Bloody Hell! And Other Stories, that's subtitled "Adventures in Menopause From Around the World." It's due to be published at some point this year - NetGalley says March and Goodreads says June.
Mod
well that's good to know, because I'm reading this book for this category, and I'm halfway through it now, and no mention of menopause at all. I was starting to wonder if it didn't actually fit.
Mod
Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.
But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.
Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.
Then the killings begin again.
Mary’s definitely going to find herself.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Rose wrote: "Today's NPR Book of the Day podcast talks with the author of All Fours by Miranda July and she conducted interviews with women going through perimenopau..."Well - I haven't read it so I am not sure but how annoying if it doesn't after promoting it like that! Fingers crossed!
I'm going to read The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson for this. The central character is a grandmother in her 50s going through the menopause, which I can very much relate to. She finds herself regaining a magical power that she had had in childhood.
I thought this was going to be harder than it appears it will be now that I looked for books. It will be one I am unlikely to just randomly fill, though.I highly recommend Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - book and wonderful movie adaptation.
Mod
Well - I haven't read it so I am not sure but how annoying if it doesn't after promoting it like that! Fingers crossed!"
Oh I never came back to update: she DEFINITELY talks about perimenopause and menopause in All Fours! It just doesn't come up until the second half, she discovers she has perimenopause and she calls all her women friends and asks them if they have experienced symptoms, she asks her mom what her symptoms were, etc. It's a whole thing.
Courtney wrote: "I know Naomi Watts is coming out with a semi-autobiography about her struggles with menopause. Anyone know when this is released?"I just turned on the TV for the morning and the Today show was on and Naomi Watts was talking. I don't normally pay attention to those kinds of shows, but they said something that made me think they were talking about menopause and sure enough, she was promoting her new book (out today)! Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Martian Contingency (other topics)City of Girls (other topics)
Sandwich (other topics)
The Revenge Club (other topics)
The Madwoman in the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Catherine Newman (other topics)Sandra Tsing Loh (other topics)
Aaron Elkins (other topics)
Virginia Woolf (other topics)
Clare Pooley (other topics)
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Well that gave me PAUSE. Because Holy Specificity, Batman!! I've read plenty of books featuring women who are older, but I don't think a single one has mentioned their menstrual status. Normally, when I see "a character" I think "fiction" ... but in this case, I say we open this one up to fiction and non-fiction, because the only books I can think of that involve menopause are nonfiction!!
Listopia list is Here: Books About Menopause