Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2026 Challenge - Advanced
>
49 - A book with a mention of your Zodiac sign
date
newest »
newest »
I have questions about this. Does it have to be the name of your western zodiac sign? (Pisces, Aries) If so, how lucky for Leos since that could be the name of a character.Could it be your Chinese zodiac sign? Those are easier to find.
My daughter asked if it could be the thing the zodiac sign represents, like reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for Leo.
Mod
Could it be your Chines..."
I have all of these same questions.
It does not specify the type of zodiac, so I'd say any zodiacal system works here. And then I wondered: how does my zodiac sign get mentioned? Capricorn is not one that gets casually mentioned, and no one ever talks about sea goats or whatever tf a capricorn is. (Update: searching my library catalog has been a revelation, I found several books with characters named "Capricorn," including Inkspell, Claire and the Unicorn Happy Ever After, and Schooled, and a short story by Rich Larson included in Tomorrow Factory: Collected Fiction. I feel better now. I'm going to read a picture book about a unicorn named Capricorn.)
I am right now very jealous of any Scorpios out there who have not yet read The Scorpio Races. Lucky you!
I think any zodiac is fine, and I don't see why the common symbols like Ram, Bull, Twins etc shouldn't count if you want. Also, bear in mind that astrology isn't just your sun sign, but also your other planetary placements. I would count at least any mention of your "Big Three", which are your Sun sign, Moon sign and Ascendant (aka Rising) sign. For example, I have the Sun in Taurus, the Moon in Libra, and my Ascendant is Aries, so that would give me three to choose from.That said, I had Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor on my TBR, so I'll go with that. I imagine it will mention all the Western signs and probably some of the non-Western ones.
As a Cancer, I feel like I have an unfair and rather morbid advantage but I do think that I'll probably be stretching it to also include crabs. And the cover and the title! The zodiac's symbol and actual name being on the cover and title counts in my eyes
Zodiac Killers series has a book on each sign. They’re all pretty short and quick reads.
Lucky for all us late February / early March babies, there's The Pisces which has been on my TBR forever.
Mod
LOL FRFR The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer is staring RIGHT AT YOU with a crab on the cover and everything!! (And it's been on my TBR forever. Too bad I'm not a Cancer.)
If anyone wants an easy read, Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans is a Greek myth inspired middle grade that includes all of the zodiac signs as characters.
I think the KIS is just to do a zodiac sign - even if it isn't yours. Some people don't like to reveal personal info anyways.
Um... help for a Sagittarius? I may need to go with an archer.
Mod
Valentino and Sagittarius: Two Novellas
"In these spare, haunting novellas, Natalia Ginzburg displays again the narrative skill, resonantly understated style, themes, and wisdom that have mad her "Italy's foremost woman writer and...one of Italy's finest writers of any kind" (Newsday) Both stories recount the breakup of families and the souring of the dreams that gave them coherence. Each is told in the quiet voice of a young woman, the daughter and sister whom family life has somehow left wounded and unchosen. Each is also the story of that voice's perseverance"
You can read one novella for Sagittarius and read the other for the Italy prompt!
For Aries, there is a charming picture book, Erik the Viking Sheep. He is clearly a ram as he has horns and his name is Erik.Also, don't google books about rams as they are all about the football team.
I also realized when searching for zodiac words that there are some hidden words Aries is hidden in diaries and Libra is hidden in library.
For Aquarius: Alea Aquarius Series by Tanya Stewner
Book 1: The Water's Call: Introducing Alea, The MerGirl: Now Available: English Edition by Tanya Stewner
Dubhease wrote: "I think the KIS is just to do a zodiac sign - even if it isn't yours. Some people don't like to reveal personal info anyways."There are a couple like The Zodiac Collector that mention all the signs.
I've got a double chance with this one, I'm a Cancer/Leo cusp baby ( aka the Cusp of Oscillation). I'm more likely to use Leo than Cancer because of the likelihood of finding Leo as a name.For queer readers, Anyta Sunday has a whole series that uses the zodiacs, Signs of Love.
Mod
Yes! These signs can sometimes be discovered within other words!
Dubhease wrote: "I also realized when searching for zodiac words that there are some hidden words Aries is hidden in diaries and Libra is hidden in library."Oh, love this!
Victoria wrote: "As a Cancer, I feel like I have an unfair and rather morbid advantage but I do think that I'll probably be stretching it to also include crabs. And the cover and the title! The zodiac's symbol and ..."And we are also Moon Children. Though that is arguably more difficult to find.
I'm also fortunate that my Chinese Zodiac sign is the dog. If I can't find a dog book to read next year, I should hand in my reader card.
The Awakening - probably mentions every zodiac at some point but the main characters are both Gemini and the love interests are Leo and Libra.
I searched my Kindle for each word. I still have some books that are indexing that weren't included yet, but if I find more I'll just update this. Taurus:
There's No Coming Back from This (1 ref to a car)
The Man Burned by Winter (car)
Gemini:
There's No Coming Back from This (character name)
Cancer:
I had 46 books hit on this one, and I think they're all references to the disease.
Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic
You, Me, and the Colors of Life
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home
This Place of Wonder
This Time for Me
The Seven Day Switch
Leo:
When We Believed in Mermaids (character name)
Your Perfect Year (character name)
Virgo:
The Price of Paradise (constellation)
Scorpio:
The Tenant (zodiac sign)
Sagittarius:
Mayluna (constellation)
The Price of Paradise (constellation)
Josie wrote: "If anyone wants an easy read, Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans is a Greek myth inspired middle grade that includes all of the zodiac signs as characters."Second this suggestion. I read the first one with my youngest, it was a fun book with an amusing take on greek mythology. She went on to read the whole series
Two books that seems like they list quite a few- but I haven't read them yet so no promise on quality:Exalted
Count Your Lucky Stars
Did a search for "Aries" on my library website and found that there's a series, Murders of the Zodiac, with one book titled as each sign. Starting with Aquarius. I don't know how good they are, of if they can be read out of order, but my library has a copy of Aries so that might be what I try if I don't find something else.
Zodiac by Romina Russell is the first in a four book series that mentions all of the zodiacs. It's YA sci-fi. I read it a few years ago and really loved the whole series. They really focus on the 13th zodiac too.
The killer question by Janice hallett makes mention of Capricorn. It’s a one liner but figured I’d throw it out there!
Personally I'm doing the Chinese zodiac because a pig is easier to come by! :D
Leo:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII, 1878-1903: Or a Light in the Heavens
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Virgo:
The Virgin in the Garden by A.S. Byatt
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary by Marina Warner
Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev
The Virgin and the Gypsy by D.H. Lawrence
Scorpio:
Rain of Scorpions and Other Stories by Estela Portillo Trambley
Super Goat Girl : that's me :) or I might go with The Bull of Mithros - mentions a mythological bull, so that will do me.
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur mentions all the zodiac signs. It's a queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve.
I'm going with the Zodiac Academy - the first book features my sign (Gemini). If this is your thing, the series has almost all of the signs, I think. 
Laura Z wrote: "Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur mentions all the zodiac signs. It's a queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer..."I enjoyed all 3 books in this series, and they will all work for this prompt for any/all zodiac signs.
Written in the Stars and Count Your Lucky Stars (both FF romances), books 1 and 3 in the series, have already been mentioned in this thread. But Hang the Moon (book 2, MF romance) is lovely, too.
I found Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond in my library's collection, so that's what I'm going to read.
I'm on the cusp. Choosing between either of the signs wouldn't really me mine though. I've never once read a book mentioned my cusp. I had this trouble when we had to read an author with our sign and I had to find one with my exact birthday. UGH I'll have to go Chinese or I have no shot
Mine is Virgo/virgin. Well at the very least it shouldn't be hard to find a book that has a virgin in it. There are many books where people are virgins and have angst about it, for example, or lose their virginity in the book.
So I just started reading The Gone World, a sci-fi thriller set in a world very like ours, except they've discovered how to travel to Deep Space and Deep Time. But a few chapters in, there's reference to the Zodiac missions, where 12 ships went out, but only Aries, Cancer and Taurus returned, whereas part of the plot seems that it will revolve around the lost ship Libra. None of the other ships/signs mentioned by name, yet, but I can update if they are. As an Aries, that's enough of a mention for me. As long as no one else requests it, my next renewal would push me into January. So I'm going to pause on my reading for now.
For anyone considering it, as I said it's a sci-fi thriller with some space and time travel. I found it via a Booktoker who was raving about it. There's a quote on the cover from Blake Crouch, and so far I'd say it's got a comparable vibe, maybe a little darker (there's quite a bit of gore in the description of the murder scene).
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Gone World (other topics)Hang the Moon (other topics)
Written in the Stars (other topics)
Looking for a Sign (other topics)
Count Your Lucky Stars (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Blake Crouch (other topics)Alexandria Bellefleur (other topics)
Alexandria Bellefleur (other topics)
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (other topics)
A.S. Byatt (other topics)
More...
Wow! This may take a while to locate a book that fulfills this one! My Zodiac sign is Aries. I rather doubt I will ever just inadvertently stumble across a mention of "Aries" in a book! Though I do know there are books about the Zodiac signs that would include a mention of each one...
Helpful websites for Western astrological/Zodiac signs:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrolo...
Zodiacsign.com: https://www.zodiacsign.com/
Chinese Highlights/Chinese Zodiac signs: https://www.chinahighlights.com/trave...
However, in the interest of helping as much as possible, I've created a Listopia for each of the most common (Western astrological) Zodiac signs:
Aquarius: January 20 - February 18
Pisces: February 19 - March 20
Aries: March 21 - April 19
Taurus: April 20 - May 20
Gemini: May 21 - June 20
Cancer: June 21 - July 22
Leo: July 23 - August 22
Virgo: August 23 - September 22
Libra: September 23 - October 22
Scorpio: October 23 - November 21
Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21
Capricorn: December 22 - January 19
I really like the ideas listed below to expand beyond a more limited interpretation!
One more Listopia for books that mention all 12 Western astrological/Zodiac signs. (You could also include any book which may list ALL Chinese Zodiac signs, or any other Zodiac sign system, as long as it is comprehensive!)
Books listing ALL Zodiac signs