Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

The reason why we must read 41 books for 40 prompts: a book and its prequel. Looking forward to suggestions for this one!

I am Wondering how people will interpret this. Will it have to be a prequel that was written after the original? Is that the definition of a prequel? Or would reading a book and its sequel in reverse order suffice? I'm not actually doing this prompt (I've chosen my own 20 for my personal challenge and this wasn't one) but I will be following this thread out of curiosity :)

I am planning on interpreting it as a book originally intended to be a standalone, but then the author wrote a prequel story. I was thinking of reading Who Fears Death and its prequel by Nnedi Okorafor. I was recommending a bunch of my favorite Afrofuturist books to a friend and realized that despite having bought the book a few years ago, I had never actually gotten around to reading it.

I think a prequel is a thing in and of itself as it functions as a story that occurs first chronologically but with the audience's knowledge of later events. But I feel like if someone wants to choose to read a book and its sequel in reverse order that could be pretty interesting too!

Melody wrote: "I am planning on interpreting it as a book originally intended to be a standalone, but then the author wrote a prequel story. I was thinking of reading Who Fears Death and its preque..."

I agree with Melody. I think the intent is that the prequel was written for a standalone book (or a series). Like all the prompts it is up to individual interpretation.

I will have to do some thinking on this one.

Oh, I just thought of one! The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written first, but the Magician's Nephew actually takes place, chronologically speaking, prior to it.

I was intending on reading The Selection series and that one has a prequel so I'm going to use that to fill this category.

Maybe wicked could count even though it isn't written by the same author, it was written as a prequel to the wizard of oz :)

Tara wrote: "Maybe wicked could count even though it isn't written by the same author, it was written as a prequel to the wizard of oz :)"

I think Wicked would definitely count! There are lots of prequels penned by different authors both with the consent of the estate of the original author (i.e. Gone with the Wind and Ruth's Journey) and without the consent or knowledge of the original author (i.e. Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea). I mean the prompt doesn't say it has to be a canonical prequel, and let's be real, because some canonical prequels should be decanonized *coughStarWarsprequelscough*. I would go for it!

Lmao that's true! Especially since it is ultimately a personal challenge you really can interpret it however you want to.

Lmao that's true! Especially since it is ultimately a personal challenge you really can interpret it however you want to.

The Hobbit is a prequel, isn't it? I've never read it or LOTR and likely never will, but since I know they are popular books I thought it would be helpful to mention :)

yeah I guess it is, the whole trilogy is a prequel to the hobbit.

Wait, no. God I'm confused lol the hobbit happens first and is also written first so is not a prequel that came after the original

Tara wrote: "Wait, no. God I'm confused lol the hobbit happens first and is also written first so is not a prequel that came after the original"

Ah well :) Thanks for pointing that out!

Lol I've read and watched all of them, and love them. I don't know why that got me so mixed up!

The Chronicles of Narnia actually has two prequels. The Horse and his Boy was written as the sixth book in the series, but it takes place (in chronological order)between The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.

Megan wrote: "The Chronicles of Narnia actually has two prequels. The Horse and his Boy was written as the sixth book in the series, but it takes place (in chronological order)between The Lion, the Witch, and th..."

Good point. I just read that last year, but didn't think about it. I guess I always think of a prequel as the beginning, but if it is written later and inserted between two previous books that works too!

The Kill Order is the prequel to The Maze Runner.

Also No Place Like OZ is a prequel to Dorothy Must Die, that's probably the one I will go with since I already own Dorothy Must Die.

Belinda wrote: "Also No Place Like OZ is a prequel to Dorothy Must Die, that's probably the one I will go with since I already own Dorothy Must Die."

Oooo...that's helpful! My niece loaned me Dorothy Must Die, but I haven't read it yet. Was planning to read it next year anyway!

Sara wrote: "Belinda wrote: "Also No Place Like OZ is a prequel to Dorothy Must Die, that's probably the one I will go with since I already own Dorothy Must Die."

Oooo...that's helpful! My niece loaned me Doro..."

I always see Dorothy must die in the store and its been on my To Be Read list - I'll be curious to hear what you guys think of it.

Sara wrote: "Belinda wrote: "Also No Place Like OZ is a prequel to Dorothy Must Die, that's probably the one I will go with since I already own Dorothy Must Die."

Oooo...that's helpful! My niece loaned me Doro..."

I just looked it up and No Place Like OZ is 1.99 on the kindle. It's 125 pages so should be an easy read!

I'm having a hard time with this one and I hope to see lots of ideas! The only prequels I can find are books I've already read ( and my personal rule for the Challenge is "no rereads" unless the challenge specifically calls for it, such as "haven't read since high school"). I did want to say that I loved Who Fears Death and so I think that and its prequel (which I haven't read .... yet) would be a fantastic choice.

I am going by reading Book #1 in a series that has a #0.5 even if the prequel was written after book #1.

The Silence of Six by E.C. Myers and it's prequel SOS: A Prequel to The Silence of Six

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner and it's prequel Gunner Skale

I might read both books+prequels.

I have finally found a few prequels that will work for me!!

* The Selection (helpfully mentioned by Megan - I've been planning to read that, too, and didn't realize there was a prequel!
* Tales of the Otori series (which I have never heard of, but looks interesting) is a trilogy with a prequel (Across the Nightingale Floor and Heaven's Net is Wide)
* The Magicians' Guild and the prequel The Magician's Apprentice, part of another series I've never heard of.

Sara wrote: "Oh, I just thought of one! The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written first, but the Magician's Nephew actually takes place, chronologically sp..."

OHHH good idea. I am a purest when it comes to this series. I don't like seeing them reordered. Funny that it didn't pop in my mind first off. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm thinking of going unconventional for this one and read a classic and a book by another author about one of the characters. My three ideas are:

Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
Gone with the Wind and Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
Great Expectations and Havisham (But do I really want to reread Great Expectations!?)

Check out Wikipedia, searching on prequels (and forget the definition-it's so confusing), there is an option at the bottom of the page that gives you prequel lists. Has great information on it!

Katie wrote: "I'm thinking of going unconventional for this one and read a classic and a book by another author about one of the characters. My three ideas are:

Jane Eyre and [book:Wide Sargasso Se..."

Jane Eyre & Wide Sargasso Sea? Oooohhhh!!! Great idea! Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books and Wide Sargasso Sea has great reviews! Thanks, Katie!

I'm going to try The Maltese Falcon and then Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. I've had the Maltese Falcon in a bookcase collecting dust for years.

The Maltese Falcon is great!!! One of those books that's a million times better than the movie!

I'm currently reading The Name of the Wind and does the book two The Wise Man's Fear and the side book Slow Regard of Silent Things count ?

I just found another YA series with prequels: Rae Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns series has three novella prequels.

Others, which I think are already mentioned above, are Ms Meyer's Lunar Chronicles - Cinder is the first book in the series, but there are several prequels, the short Glitches which is some of Cinder's backstory, and the fantastic short The Little Android, about a robot sidekick.

Also, The Throne of Glass series by S Maas has several prequel novellas that have been collected into one book. That's definitely entwined up above, right? I can't scroll up right now ...

I'm going to read Sex and the City and The Carrie Diaries.

I see Delirium has a prequel, so I'll reread Delirium (since I barely remember it) and then Annabel. The prequel is actually a novella, but oh well, if PopSugar is going to call for two books for one task, they'll have to put up with me making one of them short!

Now, that we have e-books many series have prequels now.

I think I'll read The Program and it's prequel The Remedy by Suzanne Young. The prequel was published after, and they've been on my to-reads list for awhile now.

I'm going with Shadow and Bone and its prequel The Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo. $2.99 and $0.99 respectively right now for Kindle!

Any Sherry Thomas fans on this thread? I'm going with My Beautiful Enemy and The Hidden Blade: A Prequel to My Beautiful Enemy.

I think I am going to read The Selection and The Prince. Totally unlike books I would ever choose on my own, which I think will be fun to broaden my horizons. Should I read The Selection (#1) first then The Prince (#0.5)?

Tiffany wrote: I think I am going to read The Selection and The Prince. Totally unlike books I would ever choose on my own, which I think will be fun to broaden my horizons. Should I read The Selection (#1) first then The Prince (#0.5)?

That's how I'm planning to do it, to sort of get the experience of people reading them as they were first published.

I am having some issues with this prompt. Does anyone have any ideas for me? I am option to all options! :) thank you!

Marisa wrote: "I am having some issues with this prompt. Does anyone have any ideas for me? I am option to all options! :) thank you!"

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/prequel
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

There's a very large shelf on goodreads for you to look at. Hope it helps :)

The Kill Order is a prequel to the Maze Runner series

Thank you! I was thinking of reading the Maze runner for the YA bestseller so, I could use The Kill Order for this category. Actually we are supposed to read the prequel and it's book. So it will be The Kill Order and The Maze Runner for this prompt! Thank you!!!

I assume that the two books are separate from the other books we have to read? So if I'm using Maze Runner for a different category, I can't also use it for this one as well?

Four is a great prequel for Divergent!

That's how I interpret it.

It's up to you whether you want to use a book for more than one category, but assuming you don't want to then you'd have to read at least 2 books for this. But you could definitely for example read divergent series and four then use four and divergent for this prompt and fit the other 2 into other categories.

Elissa said: "I assume that the two books are separate from the other books we have to read? So if I'm using Maze Runner for a different category, I can't also use it for this one as well?"

Yes, that's how I'm doing it, one book can fulfill only one category, and the book+prequel category requires two books, and it can't be a book I've read before. But I think it's up to each reader - some will fill as many categories as possible with one book. it's all in good fun :-)