Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Week 13. 25% in the year. First quarter down.

I finished two books in the last week. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was my "guaranteed to bring you joy". This was my first read of the book. Now I have one left in the series. I did the audio book which was pretty great but took me the better part of three weeks to complete. I also felt like it was a slower pace than I read.

The second book I read was The Jungle Book, which sucked my will to live but can cure insomnia. Every time I picked it up, I fell asleep reading it. It's only 128 pages so that should tell you something. I am using this one for "book becoming a movie" and actually look forward to the Jon Favreau directed flick. But the book? Yawn.

This brings me to 18/41 for the challenge (19/45 for my annual goal).

Let us know how your reading week went. I'm also curious about how each of you decides which book to tackle next. I have three books I borrowed from the library, two books in The Lunar Chronicles, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows and a ton of books in my Kindle TBR.

I find I get a bit of anxiety about choosing the next book. How about you? Do you just know? Or do you read a few pages of several books to decide what pulls you in? Do you have other challenges/reading obligations (i.e. book clubs) that drive the order you read? I'm interested in your approach.

Juanita wrote: "Week 13. 25% in the year. First quarter down.

I finished two books in the last week. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was my "guaranteed to bring you joy". This was my first read of..."

I feel like audio books are sometimes too slow and like it better to speed them up to 1.25, does your audiobook app let you change the speed?

I've hardly had time to read, but I'm working on Snow Crash. I kind of float around and grab whatever sounds good but sometimes this means I drop a book for a little while. I'm still in the middle of Alexander Hamilton and The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. They're both good, but not easy reads.

No idea if I'm going back to these after Snow Crash is done, but maybe.

I had a big week this week, following a week of zero progress in the Challenge. I'm now 28/41 and feeling re-invigorated!

Juanita wrote: "Week 13. 25% in the year. ...which sucked my will to live but can cure insomnia ..."

Yep I had a few book like that in the past few weeks, most notably my book 100 years older than me!

This week I finished:
Book I can finish in a day: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You which was a nice "reinvigorator" while mired in multiple endless books.
Book 100 years older than me: The Woman in White. - I sure am glad to be done with this book. Victorian-style melodramatic and overly florid literature is not my thing.
Book from the library: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - well-written but far too wordy for my tastes. I listened to the audiobook, and I didn't originally intend for it to be a Challenge book, but after investing over a month into it, I had to find a category. Voila! From the library! (Almost all my books are from the library)
Less than 150 pages: The Grownup - a lot of fun!
Satirical novel: Breakfast of Champions - this was disappointing (this also turned out to be a book I couldve read in one day)

I spend a lot of time thinking about which book I'm going to read next, and what will come after that, etc! Sometimes it's just what I "feel" like reading or a new book that I had on hold at the library and I HAVE to read right away. But usually it's not that straightforward. I try to mix it up, short and long, and not read two genres back to back. Right now I am struggling through my "occupation" book, so the next book I read will be light and fluffy (possibly not a Challenge book, because I don't seem to have an light-and-fluffies lined up for the Challenge). I also will start on a book of poetry, I plan to spread that out, reading just a few poems each day. And then I'm want something more meaningful so I'm planning book in my homestate (Americanah) or book from another culture. My library JUST got in a new book I've been eagerly waiting for (the finale of a trilogy, The Winner's Kiss) so I'll be reading that as soon as my hold comes in - that'll be light and fluffy and enjoyable, so after that I'll feel sufficiently girded to tackle a political memoir (a category I'm not looking forward to), and after that I'll need another fun book, and so on.

Phew that was wordy!!!!!!

Juanita wrote: "I find I get a bit of anxiety about choosing the next book. How about you? Do you just know? Or do you read a few pages of several books to decide what pulls you in? Do you have other challenges/reading obligations (i.e. book clubs) that drive the order you read? I'm interested in your approach. "

So I finished one book this week -- Butterflies in November, my "road trip" book. I didn't particularly care for it, but I'm hoping it's just a bad translation.

As far as choosing the next book, I generally try to mix it up somehow. My last few choices have all been fiction, so I'm reading some nonfiction next (Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City). If a book was particularly dense, I look for a bit of brain candy like a thriller or a romance. Or, if I've been reading a lot of books written by women, say, or Americans, then I look for a different voice. Of course, if a hold comes through from the library, that generally drives it to the top of the stack -- mainly because I'm limited in the time I'll have to read it. Does that help?

I had a very successful week. I'm averaging about 2 books a week, but this past week I finished 4 books!

My Life in France by Julia Child (autobiography). Loved hearing about her life in France. And I found out last night that a relative of mine (the nephew of my great-grandmother...no idea what kind of relation that makes him to me) was friends with her and her husband, and she even cooked for him!

Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel (book written by a celebrity) which I loved. It has made me want to listen to all of her music!

The Hound Of The Baskervilles - graphic novel. Ugh...this genre is the bane of my existence. I have NOTHING against people who enjoy graphic novels (my daughter is one) but it is just not the medium for me. If Pop Sugar includes this again next year I am giving myself permission to SKIP it! That being said, I do love Sherlock Holmes :)

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. I haven't categorized this one yet. I did enjoy it very much. A new perspective on the atrocities of WWII.

That puts me at 19/41 for the challenge and 26/75 for my yearly goal :)

I am currently reading:

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra
and
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks

I am a hodgepodge mix when it comes to picking my next book. Sometimes a book just calls my name. Other times I start and abandon several books before I can find one that sticks. Between kindle books, library books and books I own I have way too many options!

As far as the challenge goes, I learned my lesson last year. I am knocking out the more difficult challenges first and am trying to read mostly challenge books right now. I will save my non-challenge books for later in the year. We'll see how this goes :)

Finished Challenger Deep for my National Book Award Winner. Fantastic book, and all the more relevant for me since my daughter is struggling with some mental illness issues.

Just started The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for our group read/April read/Satirical Book. I've read it before several times, but it's been at least a decade since the last time. I'm really looking forward to it!

Standing at 17/41

I don't spend a lot of time picking the next book to read. I usually have several lined up in advance for various categories and I'll pick the one that feels like the right choice and is available (I borrow from the library a lot). Once I pick one, I tend to finish it before starting another.

Jaimee wrote: "I feel like audio books are sometimes too slow and like it better to speed them up to 1.25, does your audiobook app let you change the speed? "

It does and that totally made me giggle. It was like listening to an LP (remember those) on the wrong speed. So funny.

I finished 2 books yesterday, bringing my total up to 17/41.

I read A Room of One's Own, which I used for my "classic from the 20th century," and Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, which I used for my "book you can finish in a day." Both were quite good!

My progress is going to slow down soon, I think. I'm starting A Little Life for another challenge, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be all I can handle for the next few weeks!

Juanita wrote: "Jaimee wrote: "I feel like audio books are sometimes too slow and like it better to speed them up to 1.25, does your audiobook app let you change the speed? "

It does and that totally made me gigg..."

I ALSO KNOW WHAT AN LP IS! Sometimes it IS funny, I bet more with Jim Dale's voice, lol!

I only read one book last week and it was for another challenge I'm doing.

So I'm stuck on 10/41 for this challenge. 11/52 for the around the year challenge and 24/95 for my yearly goals. I'm currently reading my fairy tale and listening to my self help book.

All these numbers and tracking I can see how it feels overwhelming. Picking my next book depends on if I'm finishing a series or when things come in to the library. I have a TBR-Next shelf so that helps me narrow down the options. I"m trying to request really popular books from the library so I get on their listing. I was in the triple digits waiting for Me Before You and still waitin!

Finished Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty this week- so good! She's such a talented story teller. It appears that reading more than one book a week is a real struggle for me.

In terms of choosing a next book, I try to alternate fluffy light reading with some heavier or dragging ones. My mother has also been doing this challenge with me and every time we visit she leaves me a whole stack of books, so that influences my choices as well so that I can return them at our next visit. Right now I'm also working off the challenge list and the ideas I had listed there too, but nothing is set in stone.

Megan wrote: "I was in the triple digits ... and still waitin..."



Yeah some holds take forever! I've been waiting for My Name Is Lucy Barton for a loooong time now!! I had Red Queen ebook on hold for months, finally got fed up and put the paper book on hold and got it within a week! (Still haven't read it yet, and it probably won't fit a Challenge category)

I got two tasks done this week which puts me at 36/40.

31. A book of poetry-Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices by Walter Dean Myers 3/25/16

36. A book about a road trip- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 3/27/16

My FB popsugar group from last year came up with 92 tasks as a group and then everyone who wanted to picked 52 tasks to complete. I also am part of a goodread book challenge group that has all sorts of challenges. I count one books towards all challenges. I also try to read books I already own or that I can borrow from the library.

This has been a good week for me. There were a lot do myths where I stayed up late to finish books, which helped. :)

I read Maskerade and Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, though I haven't counted them for the challenge, but I did count Jingo for the challenge! It's my book guarenteed to bring you joy because it was a Discworld book and one I hadn't read yet. That book was amazing.

I also read Night by Elie Wiesel for the Oprah's Book Club selection. I picked this one because I was happy to find that I had it and it was a short unhappy book instead of a long unhappy book. (I had also read A Tale of Two Cities and The Great Gatsby recently, so they were out for me).

Now I have finally uncovered my one currently reading book that I started back in December, so that's next on my list. Lately I've been alternating fun books with the thinking books. That's been Discworld book for the fun ones since the beginning of the year, but pretty soon I'm going to run out of them... But there are other fun books to read. I like setting up my to read list about ten books at a time. I have a stack on my nightstand and I just work my way down. :)

This week, I completed Room, which was a fantastic, well-written story, albeit terrifying and sad. I also started 3 others, leaving me scattered and with little else to report this week.

Lately, I've been reading whatever I have on hold at the library, even if I'm not feeling it at the time, because I only have a month to finish them and don't want to go back to the bottom of the list. Otherwise, I'm in the same boat as many others who tend to switch between light and heavy reads.

Two books read this week, after a week with none...

✅2. A National Book Award winner: Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories, Faber & Faber, 1991 (first published, 1971; NBA, 1972)

✅✅11. A book that's becoming a movie this year (#2): Maylis de Kerangal, Réparer les vivants, Gallimard, 2014.

The Flannery O'Connor is an amazing collection of short stories; the other was a pretty quick read, pretty good but not the same league by far - a nice break between two installments of heavy Southern Gothic!

That puts me at 24, slightly ahead of my target.

Christophe wrote: "The Flannery O'Connor is an amazing collection of short stories; the other was a pretty quick read, pretty good but not the same league by far - a nice break between two installments of heavy Southern Gothic!"

I have this on my Kindle. It was a daily deal last year and I picked it up for $1.99. I'll cycle into the rotation based on your opinion.

I like chipping away at a collection of short stories because you can read a story in a sitting and then put it down and come back to it without losing continuity.

Week 13. I am now at 51%. 21 out of 41 done.

I finished 3 books this week, one of which qualified for the challenge.

I currently have 58 books in various stages of progress, 18 of which qualify for a shelf.

I finished "a book based on a fairytale": Tales of Cynings Volume I by Cameron W. Kobes. It was my cousin's debut book!

Juanita wrote: "Week 13. 25% in the year. First quarter down.

I finished two books in the last week. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was my "guaranteed to bring you joy". This was my first read of..."

Too bad you didn't like The Jungle Book. I read a graphic novel version this year and it was a lot of fun. I can't wait for the movie also as it was one of my favorite growing up.

I finished one book last week: Solaris for the translated to english book. I made a little twist however. Since I'm reading in french most of the time, I decided to choose a non-english book, but still read it in french. Easier for me.

And I'm almost done with my at least 100 years older than me book: Around the World in Eighty Days. I love Jules Verne and that book is very good so far.

Fannie wrote: "And I'm almost done with my at least 100 years older than me book: Around the World in Eighty Days. I love Jules Verne and that book is very good so far. "

I read that one last year for the challenge and loved it too.

Was the graphic novel focused on Mowgli's stories or did it include all of the stories in The Jungle Book? That might've been what surprised me most: that it was all short stories with different characters.

It was a retelling from Mowgli as an older man nearing death. He told his story to a child.

It's true that it can be surprising when you don't expect short stories.

This was a great reading week for me! I'm now 10/41
I finished a book I had been working on, and read 2 others to meet my March goal of reading 5 books.
I finished A Little Life for my book over 600 pages.
I read Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography for my autobiography.
I read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for my book you can read in a day.

I haven't had to much trouble picking which book to read next yet. I picked out about half before the beginning of the year (many which have changed). Since I work at my local library I just glance at my list of books I have picked out and see which are available there and which one peaks my interest at the particular moment. I know there are some series that the first book matches a prompt that I'm waiting till closer to the end of the year to read so I can freely continue the series without having to match it to a prompt once the challenge is finished (as long as I don't decide to try this challenge again next year.)

Fannie- I am getting ready to start Around the World in 80 Days but I will use it for my task a book that has been translated.

I think I'm at 20/41 now. 49%, baby!

I finished...
The Book Thief - YA bestseller
The Maltese Falcon - Book set in my home state (California, and NorCal to boot! Bonus!)

Working on...
Watchmen - Graphic novel, which I'll probably finish this weekend.
South of the Pumphouse - Book written by a celebrity (Les Claypool), which I will almost definitely finish today. I actually had to stop reading it on my lunch because I was worried I wasn't going to have enough of it left for my commute and I don't have another book lined up on my Kindle yet.

I've been sticking pretty exclusively to the challenge for my reading choices right now, so when I'm looking for the next book to read, I tend to browse my list and see if there's anything that catches my eye. I keep changing up the order on my list, and then browsing GR categories and others' reading lists to see if there's anything that makes me go, "Ooh! That's WAY better than the crap I have!" Then I download about 15 samples on Kindle and see which narrators or stories I won't hate spending the next couple of days with. My Kindle has like ten times as many samples as it has books. Haha.

Just one again for me this week. I finished Always Watching as my book with a blue cover. I've done 9/41 books so far, so pretty much on track.

I finished just one book this week:

23. A book that is published in 2016 - The Queen of the Night

This puts me at 30/41

How did you like Queen of the Night?

Juanita wrote: "I have [Flannery O'Connor] on my Kindle. It was a daily deal last year and I picked it up for $1.99. I'll cycle into the rotation based on your opinion.
"

A few extra comments:
- the stories are in chronological order; the first few ones are not necessarily the best of the lot;
- you need to read a few to get "in the mood"; after that, my MO was to read one story, then the first page of the next one to whet my appetite!
- "Southern Gothic" it is; can be a wee bit disturbing - not only on the race relations level.

Enjoy the read!

So far I've only gotten 6 books read for this challenge. I'm really far behind and I hope I can get caught up with my reading so I can finish this challenge. Maybe during my April Vacation I can get better caught up. So far I've read "Twillight" for A YA bestseller, "Night" for A book translated to English, "Oedipus Rex" for A book that's under 150 pages, "Safe Haven" for A New York Times Bestseller, "Antigone" for A book you can finish in a day, and "Hunger Games" for A book recommended by a family member. I've just started "Elixir" for A book written by a celebrity.

In the past few weeks (I always forget to post) I've polished off several prompts.

#6 A book translated to English - The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries. It's a Kurt Wallander book with 5 short stories. Wallander is an excellent BBC show with Kenneth Brannaugh. I marathoned the first 3 seasons on Netflix a few weeks ago, and I loved it again. Season 4 is coming soon! The stories were pretty good.

#13 Self-help book - Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus. Martin also wrote The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life which is funny and enlightening. This one was short and sweet and I'll use what I learned to move my spirituality along.

#20 A science fiction novel - Alien Hunter. Pretty lame. I had just picked it randomly off the library shelf.

#24 Protagonist with my occupation - Love in Lowercase. I'm a teacher, and this guy was also, but it barely mattered to the book. It was a fluffy little piece that was ok.

#29 Dystopian novel- Soft Apocalypse. Another random library pick up. I need to start reading y'all's recommendations - This was another blech.

#36 Road trip - The Road to Grace. yikes. This guy's wife died and he starts walking from Seattle to Key West. I believe this was book 3 of 4. Honest to God, it was "I walked 20 miles and ate at Joe's diner and slept at Hotel California and talked to the waitress, who had an interesting story to tell me" for 234 pages. Really!

Well, I certainly don't read as fast as many of you. I'm happy if I get a book done in two weeks. I just finished Pride and Prejudice for my book older than 100 years old today and will start The House on Mango Street tonight. Since it's spring break for me, I'm hoping to finish this easily in a day for that prompt. Hopefully the library will have my next book waiting for me by then. I have Night on hold and I'm hoping to have it Tuesday. If not I'll start The Girl on the Train, since I have that on my Kindle.

I like to work my way down the list when I can. I check out most of my books from the library and sometimes I have to wait for a book for a while so I have to skip a prompt and move on to the next one. I've been waiting for The 5th Wave four a couple of months now!

I finished 3 books, but none of them counted for the challenge, unfortunately. Now I'm back on track though, 1/4 of the way through my book recommended by a relative, I have my satire from the library, and I just got notification from media mall that my road trip book is in :)

Keep at it Mellanie and Anja! I'm in the same boat as you guys, I'm not finishing books anywhere near the rate that a lot of people here are. But that's okay-it's still fun and helps me stay motivated :)

19 books done finishing The Cay for book I had not read since High School, Dark Voyage for occupation related.

Still working on Monte Cristo as my Island book while starting Eragon as my YA Best Seller.

How do you post the links and pictures in your posts for these threads?

Steven wrote: "How do you post the links and pictures in your posts for these threads? "

Hi Steven - the option to add links or pictures of books in your messages is only available in an actual browser. The apps don't support that feature (or at least mine doesn't). If you want to add links you can either go to goodreads on your device's browser or use a computer.

If you do use your browser, you'll see a little link just above the text box that says "add book/author".

To add a link on the app (on android, at least), just type [ book : Title of Book ] without the spaces. Not sure about adding book covers, though.

I finished Gone With The Wind for my book over 600 pages. I know a lot of people love that book but I just couldn't enjoy it, it was such a slog for me. I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over and that nothing new or exciting was introduced within the characters. Some books just don't hook certain people, and this one didn't for me!

I chose GWTW for this challenge because I'm also working my way through the Pulitzer Prize fiction winners. This makes the 21st I've read, including A Bell for Adano which I read as my book set in Europe. I'm planning to slip a few more Pulitzers into this challenge: All The Light We Cannot See as a NYT bestseller, Gilead and its prequel as a book and prequel, The Good Earth as an Oprah winner.

The next two books I'm reading were chosen because I have them out from the library and they're due back soon.

I love cold-based horror and sea stories so I found a list of those on Goodreads and I'm reading the top-voted one (The Deep) for my dystopia challenge prompt. I also spotted a book with a beautifully yellow cover, We Need New Names, which I will read for my culture I'm unfamiliar with.

I also just started reading The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents because I wanted something to read on my Kindle while lying in bed, and that was one I have which answers a challenge prompt (a book based on a fairy tale).

Rosey, Gone With The Wind. My wife just read that for her challenge and enjoyed the book a lot more than the movie. I couldn't get into the movie myself. My review of the movie link below :

HTTPS://jeffbeckinc.wordpress.com/201...

Thank you Katherine and Sara for answering my questions:)

Rosey wrote: "I finished Gone With The Wind for my book over 600 pages. I know a lot of people love that book but I just couldn't enjoy it, it was such a slog for me. I felt like I was reading the ..."

Rosey, I found the book the same way when I tried to read it years ago. Last year I got a really good deal on the audiobook and enjoyed that version much better! Just a thought in case you ever decide to give it another try :)