Chai’s Comments (group member since Jan 07, 2017)

Chai’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

To counteract the AI Prompt: AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference <3

I have a few random books I picked up through the years. Not all of them are available in English; but these come to mind:
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - Honestly, it was an experience. A slightly f-ed up one, but an experience nonetheless.

Woyzeck - This one is an Austrian classic play, if you want to read something short.

Gork, the Teenage Dragon - it's kind of funny from the first few pages I read, this is my most likely pick for this prompt.

From what I saw in Akata Witch, the main character plays soccer. I might read it and see if it involves enough mentions of that to count (for me personally).

Regular
✅1 A book about a POC experiencing joy and not trauma Cemetery Boys
2 A book you want to read based on the last sentence Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
✅3 A book about space tourism Floating Hotel
4 A book with two or more books on the cover or "book" in the title The Cat Who Saved Books
5 A book with a snake on the cover or in the title AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference
✅ 6 A book that fills your favorite prompt from the 2015 PS Reading Challenge A Darker Shade of Magic (book by a female author)
7 A book about a cult Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
✅ 8 A book under 250 pages All Systems Red
9 A book that features a character going through menopause Gone with the Witches
✅10 A book you got for free Gasthaus Jamaica
11 A book mentioned in another book Mrs. Dalloway
✅12 A book about a road trip The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
13 A book rated less than three stars on Goodreads Die von denen Faunen gepeitschte Laster
✅14 A book about a nontraditional education When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
15 A book that an AI chatbot recommends based on your favorite book
✅16 A book set in or around a body of water A Gathering of Shadows
17 A book about a run club Zombie Apocalypse Running Club
✅18 A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons The Archive of the Forgotten
✅19 A highly anticipated read of 2025 The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy
✅20 A book that fills a 2024 prompt you'd like to do over (or try out) (13 - A book originally published under a pen name) The Daughter of Time
✅21 A book where the main character is a politician You're the Problem, It's You
22 A book about soccer Furia or Akata Witch (main char plays soccer); My Greatest Save: The Brave, Barrier-Breaking Journey of a World Champion Goalkeeper
✅23 A book that is considered healing fiction Bevor der Kaffee kalt wird
24 A book with a happily single woman protagonist Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries;
✅25 A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee Madame Curie: A Biography
✅ 26 A book where an adult character changes careers A Psalm for the Wild-Built
27 A book set at a luxury resort My Best Friend's Honeymoon
✅ 28 A book that features an unlikely friendship A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
29 A book about a food truck Geekerella
✅30 A book that reminds you of your childhood The Golem and the Jinni
✅31 A book where music plays an integral part of the storyline Kokopelli's Flute
✅32 A book about an overlooked woman in history Liebe in Zeiten des Hasses: Chronik eines Gefühls 1929–1939
✅33 A book featuring an activity on your bucket list The Book of Bere: Orkney's Ancient Grain (making sourdough from scratch)
34 A book written by an author who is neurodivergent Eine Bonnie kommt niemals allein
✅35 A book centering LGBTQ+ characters that isn't about coming out Don't Want You Like a Best Friend
✅36 A book with silver on the cover or in the title A Conjuring of Light
37 Two books with the same title (1)
38 Two books with the same title (2)
39 A classic you've never read Shirley
✅40 A book about chosen family To Be Taught, If Fortunate


Advanced Prompts
Easy
41 A book by the oldest author in your TBR pile
42 A book with a title that starts with the letter Y
✅43 A book that includes a nonverbal character Remote Control (Moevenpick)
44 A book you have always avoided reading Die Brüder Karamasow

Medium
✅45 A book with a left-handed character The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
46 A book where nature is the antagonist Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic; Annapurna: A Woman's Place; The Queen of Blood; Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
✅47 A book of interconnected short stories We'll Prescribe You a Cat

Hard
✅ 48 A book that features a married couple who don't live together Heart of the Sun Warrior
✅49 A dystopian book with a happy ending Lost Ark Dreaming
✅50 A book that features a character with chronic pain Strange Practice

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.

Kristy wrote: "Chai wrote: The autobiography by someone in rock'n roll was very specific;

That is interesting to me, because that was the easiest prompt for me to fill. The Britney Spears memoir dropped in Octo..."

I know that one came out, my issue is that I don't really have an interest in music in general, and while at first I thought the Britney Spears book would be an option, I hate it when I see it everywhere and a book is hyped into oblivion. (And yes, I am very much aware that that is childish, I'm working on it^^)

I've been contemplating one of the books by Dolly Parton, but currently I'm still procrastinating.

I have hopes for the 2025 challenge, but I have been honestly struggling this year. The autobiography by someone in rock'n roll was very specific; and the one word title you had to look up is, for someone who reads a lot and in multiple languages, really not that easy to find. And I don't know if it's me but the prompts used to be more fun. Then again, the mixture of 'fun', 'interesting', and 'challenging' is probably hard one to nail.

does anyone have suggestions for where 'Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men' would fit?

As it has been on some bestseller lists, I was thinking of 'recommended by a librarian/bookseller', but looking for alternatives.

Hi, does anyone have an idea for a book set in 1975?
So far I was thinking of reading Lightyears, because I think it covers several decades, so 1975 would be included - but it feels like cheating.

✅1 A book with the word "leap" in the title Leap In: A Woman, Some Waves and the Will to Swim
✅2 A bildungsroman book Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
✅3 A book about a 24-year-old That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
✅4 A book about a writer Just Stab Me Now
✅5 A book about K-pop Demigod 12
✅6 A book about pirates A Pirate's Life for Tea
✅7 A book about women's sports and/or by a woman athlete Swimming To Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer
✅8 A book by a blind or visually impaired author Redsight
✅ 9 A book by a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing author Unravel
✅ 10 A book by a self-published author Bookshops & Bonedust
✅11 A book from a genre you typically avoid Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
✅12 A book from an animal's POV Matou
✅13 A book originally published under a pen name The Goblin Emperor
✅14 A book recommended by a bookseller Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
✅15 A book recommended by a librarian Sea of Tranquility
16 A book set 24 years before you were born Lichtjahre
✅17 A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list His Majesty's Dragon
✅18 A book set in space A Brief History of Black Holes: And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong
✅ 19 A book set in the future Dome 6
✅20 A book set in the snow Spinning Silver
✅21 A book that came out in a year that ends with "24" The Black Bird Oracle
✅22 A book that centers on video games Die drei Sonnen
✅ 23 A book that features dragons Feathers of Gold
✅24 A book that takes place over the course of 24 hours Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
✅25 A book that was published 24 years ago (2000) The Queen of Attolia
26 A book that was turned into a musical Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
✅27 A book where someone dies in the first chapter Under the Whispering Door
✅28 A book with a main character who's 42 years old The Library of the Unwritten
✅29 A book with a neurodivergent main character Functional Data Analysis I'm the main character here so I have decided it counts.
30 A book with a one-word title you had to look up in a dictionary Aibohphobia
✅ 31 A book with a title that is a complete sentence We Should All Be Feminists
✅ 32 A book with an enemies to lovers plot Daindreth's Assassin
✅33 A book with an unreliable narrator The Thief
✅34 A book with at least 3 POVs The Untold Story
✅35 A book with magical realism The Queen of England: Coronation
✅36 A book written by an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person The Importance of Being Earnest
✅37 A book written during NaNoWriMo Heartless
✅38 A cozy fantasy book Stitches and Witches
✅39 A fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author The House Witch 3
✅40 A horror book by a BIPOC author The Gilda Stories
✅41 A memoir that explores queerness Pageboy
42 A nonfiction book about Indigenous people From Lapland to Sápmi: Collecting and Returning Sámi Craft and Culture
✅ 43 A second-chance romance May the Best Man Win
44 An autobiography by a woman in rock 'n' roll M Train
✅ 45 An LGBTQ+ romance novel One Last Stop
✅46 A book in which a character sleeps for more than 24 hours We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
✅47 A book with 24 letters in the title Daughter of the Moon Goddess
48 A collection of at least 24 poems
49 The 24th book of an author Troilus and Cressida
✅50 A book that starts with the letter "X" Xingu

Date you finished: 5.9.2023

Message number of your list post (if you've got one): 377

Favorite prompt (and what book did you read for it?):
32 A book that comes out in the second half of 2023
The Sun and the Void

Favorite book (and what prompt was it for?):
39 A book you wish you could read for the first time again The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Was there a book you especially enjoyed that you never would have read if not for the Challenge? (and what prompt was it for?) :
35 A book about divorce
Untamed

Least favorite prompt:
42 A book based on a popular movie

Prompt you hope to see again:
48 A book that features two languages

Last prompt you finished:
32 A book that comes out in the second half of 2023

Did you like the "nostalgia" theme for this year?:
Mostly :D

Finally, are you in for 2024?
Hell yes!

Chelsea wrote: "Ughhhhh that bustle.com link, while adding to my tbr also just ruined City of Bones/ Shadowhunters books for me because I was late to the party and had no clue it was Draco/Ginny fanfic *shudders*"

wasn't that draco/hermione fanfictions? I think I have the fanfiction original pdf somewhere still...

✅1 A book you meant to read in 2022 Gideon the Ninth
✅2 A book you bought from an independent bookstore Eroberung
✅3 A book about a vacation The Grand Tour
✅4 A book by a first-time author Legendborn
✅5 A book with mythical creatures An Enchantment of Ravens
✅6 A book about a forbidden romance Wuthering Heights
✅7 A book with "Girl" in the title She Gets the Girl
✅8 A celebrity memoir Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard
✅9 A book with a color in the title The Priory of the Orange Tree
✅10 A romance with a fat lead The House in the Cerulean Sea
✅11 A book about or set in Hollywood The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
✅12 A book published in spring 2023 A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon
✅13 A book published the year you were born Der Tod ist mein
✅14 A modern retelling of a classic Malice
✅15 A book with a song lyric as its title Any Way the Wind Blows
✅16 A book where the main character's name is in the title Harrow the Ninth
✅17 A book with a love triangle Bloodmarked
✅18 A book that's been banned or challenged in any state in 2022 The Bell Jar
✅19 A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past challenge (recommended by a family member) Ceremony in Death
✅20 A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023 The Witching Hour
✅21 A book set in the decade you were born The Lady Astronaut of Mars
✅22 A book with a queer lead A Day of Fallen Night
✅23 A book with a map Witwenküsse
✅24 A book with a rabbit on the cover Mrs Death Misses Death
✅25 A book with just text on the cover The Beautifull Cassandra: The Beautiful Cassandra
✅26 The shortest book (by pages) on your TBR list The Empress of Salt and Fortune
✅ 27 A #BookTok recommendation The Witch King
✅28 A book you bought secondhand First Comes Scandal
✅29 A book your friend recommended Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
✅30 A book that's on a celebrity book-club list Project Hail Mary
✅31 A book about a family Mord ist ihre Leidenschaft
✅32 A book that comes out in the second half of 2023 The Sun and the Void
✅33 A book about an athlete/sport Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World
✅34 A historical-fiction book The Ghost Bride
✅35 A book about divorce Untamed
✅36 A book you think your best friend would like Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot
✅37 A book you should have read in high school Siddartha
✅38 A book you read more than 10 years ago Schule der Lüfte
✅39 A book you wish you could read for the first time again The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
✅40 A book by an author with the same initials as you America's First Daughter

Advanced Challenge

✅41 A book written during NaNoWriMo The Calculating Stars
✅42 A book based on a popular movie
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
✅43 A book that takes place entirely in one day Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
✅44 A book that was self-published Legends & Lattes
✅45 A book that started out as fan fiction Carry On
✅46 A book with a pet character Miez Marple und die Kralle des Bösen
✅47 A book about a holiday that's not Christmas The Ex Hex
✅48 A book that features two languages In the Vanishers’ Palace
✅49 The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list The House Witch
✅50 A book with alliteration in the title The Mislaid Magician; or, Ten Years After

Nadine's Mini Challenge

✅1. A book involving genetics and/or genealogy (because we have 23 pairs of chromosomes). Nona the Ninth
✅2. The 23rd book on a list (your TBR list, for example). Dragonflight
✅3. A book with five words in the title (because 2+3=5). Can't Spell Treason Without Tea
✅4. A book based on Norse mythology (connection: Vanadium is the 23rd element and was named for Vanadis aka Freya). The Witch's Heart
✅5. A book about sheep or shepherds (because Psalm 23 starts "The Lord is my shepherd"). Die Letzte Diagnose: Zehnter Roman Des Zyklus Orbit Hospital
✅6. A book with flames on the cover or in the title (because a movie "23" was made about hacker Karl Koch who burned to death - possibly suicide - at the age of 23) - LOL this is such a reach, but it would still make a good category!! Her Majesty's Royal Coven
✅7. A title that starts with W (23rd letter in the English alphabet). Wayward Son
✅8. A book set on an island (because 23 is one of the recurring numbers in LOST 4 8 15 16 23 42). Circe
✅9. A book about or set in an ancient civilization. (Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times). The Song of Achilles
✅10. A book less than 230 pages long The Vampire Knitting Club

1. A book published in 2022
2. A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship
3. A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society
4. A book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title
5. A sapphic book
A Knight to Remember; Bridget Essex
6. A book by a Latinx author
7. A book with an onomatopoeia in its title
8. A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid
9. A book about a "found family"
Will of Fate, Samantha Britt
10. An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner
11. A #BookTok recommendation
12. A book about the afterlife
13. A book set in the 1980s
14. A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title
15. A book by a Pacific Islander author
16. A book about witches
The Witches of New York, Ami McKay
17. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022
18. A romance novel by a BIPOC author
19. A book that takes place during your favorite season
20. A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read
21. A book about a band or musical group
22. A book with a character on the ace spectrum
23. A book with a recipe in it
24. A book you can read in one sitting
25. A book about a secret
Romancing Mister Bridgerton, Julia Quinn
26. A book with a misleading title
27. A Hugo Award winner
28. A book set during a holiday
29. A different book by an author you read in 2021
30. A book with the name of a board game in the title
31. A book featuring a man-made disaster
32. A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page
33. A social-horror book
Finna, Nino Cipri
34. A book set in Victorian times
35. A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title
36. A book you know nothing about
37. A book about gender identity
38. A book featuring a party
Work of Fate, Samantha Britt
39. An #OwnVoices SFF (science fiction and fantasy) book
40. A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

The Bitter Cry of Outcast London by Andrew Mearns and William C. Preston

As one of my hobbies is travel and another is Judo, leading to a continued interest in Japan and Japanese Culture, I am going with Unbeaten Tracks in Japan by Isabella L. Bird which I found on Project Gutenberg.

I read 1984. I hated it, though...

I intend on reading the Woman in White!

I read reticence by gail carriger for this one! And absolutely loved it.

My reading list, containing everything I've already read-might be updated if I don't forget!
1. A book made into a movie you've already seen
Der Marsianer
2. True Crime
Carvalho und die Meere des Südens
3. The next book in a series you started
Lumen
4. A book involving a heist
The Lightning Thief
5. Nordic noir
El redentor (in german)
6. A novel based on a real person
Die Frau im Orient-Express
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you
London. Eine Stadt in Biographien
8. A book with a time of day in the title
Walpurgisnacht (still working on it)
9. A book about a villain or antihero
10. A book about death or grief
Wenn Tote baden
11. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym
Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers
12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist
Romancing the Werewolf
13. A book that is also a stage play or musical
Jugend ohne Gott
14. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
Tausend strahlende Sonnen
15. A book about feminism
Frauenpower auf Arabisch - Jenseits von Klischee und Kopftuchdebatte
16. A book about mental health
Die Zweisamkeit der Einzelgänger
17. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
Saphirblau
18. A book by two authors
19. A book about or involving a sport
Into the West
20. A book by a local author
Das Universum ist eine Scheissgegend
21. A book with your favorite color in the title
Smaragdgrün
22. A book with alliteration in the title
Himmel und Hölle
23. A book about time travel
Rubinrot
24. A book with a weather element in the title
In sturmzerzauster Welt : die Brontës
25. A book set at sea
The Sea of Monsters
26. A book with an animal in the title
Die Hummerkönige: Roman
27. A book set on a different planet
The Masked City
28. A book with song lyrics in the title
Norwegian Wood
29. A book about or set on Halloween
Kürbisküsse
30. A book with characters who are twins
Harry Crow
31. A book mentioned in another book
32. A book from a celebrity book club
33. A childhood classic you've never read
The Titan's Curse
34. A book that's published in 2018
How To Marry A Werewolf
35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
36. A book set in the decade you were born
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to
38. A book with an ugly cover
Solaris
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library
The Invisible Library
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges
Fortunas Tochter

Advanced
1. A bestseller from the year you graduated high school
2. A cyberpunk book
3. A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
4. A book tied to your ancestry
5. A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title
6. An allegory
7. A book by an author with the same first or last name as you
8. A microhistory
9. A book about a problem facing society today
10. A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge