A challenge of relative ease and merriment discussion

Hi, everyone! Just curious how you all are picking your "contemporary" read. I was surprised when I clicked the genre on GoodReads to get some ideas, because a lot more of it was YA than I was expecting. . . and Amazon best-selling contemporary had a lot more erotica and romance than I was expecting! There's nothing wrong with either of these, but I was personally planning on reading a non-romance for adults for my contemporary pick. ^_^

Also--blonde moment--I didn't realize until I started researching for this post that "contemporary" means that it's *set* in the time it was written. For some reason which obviously makes no sense, I thought that some historical fiction was contemporary fiction because. . . I guess reading it is contemporary now? O_O (For instance, The Danish Girl was on my list of possibilities, though it seems obvious now that it's historical fiction.)

I'm not trying to stress about it or be pedantic; I'm just having fun thinking of all the possibilities, and learning more about the genre and perceptions of the genre!

So far, my mystery and my released-in-2016 could technically count for contemporary, but my ideas for what to read include
The Interestings
We Were the Mulvaneys
(I think these are ok, even though parts are set in the past?)
Shelter
Perfect Peace
White Teeth
The Rehearsal

Do you guys have something picked out? How did you choose? Or how do you plan to?

Update--well, scratch all of the above, not that I don't plan to read those books just because they don't meet the challenge. I saw that someone else here picked You, and I opened it just to see if it grabbed me enough to stick with for 400+ pages, and suddenly I'm almost halfway done with it. O_O The only reason I'm not reading right now is because my boyfriend wanted to watch a TV show!

I guess that's my contemporary pick sorted, but I'm still interested in your thoughts on "contemporary," and what you plan to read. ^_^

I am good at over-thinking things like this challenge. I have kind of a logic puzzle going on in a very messy computer file (there are some things I've read that I won't lock down until I read a lot more, because one in particular could fit 6+ categories!). It's all in fun, I swear! Haha.
The Thing Around Your Neck is another book I've been intending to read for ages; I'm glad you mentioned that. I could read it for the short stories category, if not just for fun! It sounds like it definitely qualifies for Contemporary as well. ^_^

I think the way I'm choosing book for this challenge at the moment is pretty much just "whatever happens happens". I read book and then I see where they fit. My problem right now is that I seem to be firmly stuck in non-fiction (and often micro history). But that'll pass eventually.

As with all genres I feel that Contemporary is slightly fuzzy. It's not super well defined and you can probably fit a bunch of different books in there. I have a feeling I'll end up reading a contemporary romance or something and put it in there. I personally think of the genre as realistic fiction set in modern times (although I suppose it would technically be considered contemporary if it was written in 1544 and about the mid 16th century?) When I made the list for the challenge, when it was mostly one for myself and before I thought that it'd might be fun to drag others into it haha, I put it there to force myself out of the fantastical umbrella I usually find myself reading under.

You are reading so much, Pocki, that I think you can scarcely avoid hitting your goals for this challenge! You can cover a lot of the broad categories with all the non-fiction you've been reading, and then by the time you need to fill in categories that are necessarily fiction, you'll be ready for a change, and the books you want most will jump out at you. ^_^

I can't believe I didn't realize that Contemporary has to be set in contemporary times, but I think you're right. . . an older book set in the time period in which it was written should count! I'm really enjoying this challenge, but possibly the most important thing I've gotten out of it was the correct definition of Contemporary, LOL.

Almost all of my reading right now is in the form of audiobooks. I have a four hour commute each weekday so it's easy to get through books that way. On Friday I should have finished my first biography of the year I think (too bad that isn't a category haha). And then move back to science maybe. Or maybe one of the few fiction audiobooks I have lined up. It's just easier to listen to non fiction for some reason, and you learn so much! I really should update the group shelf with some of the good non fiction and micro histories I've read lately...

I can't believe it either! :P It seems so... obvious.
And that is probably the reason I almost never read it: I want pure escapism if I read fiction.

I am generally bad at audiobooks because my mind wanders, and I forget what's happening, but I should try a nonfiction audiobook and see if that works better! I never thought of that, for some reason, but I listen to short-form nonfiction like This American Life just fine. That would really help boost my reading progress!

What's really terrifying when I discover a misconception like that is to imagine all the ones I've yet to discover. XD

I have fallen asleep a couple of times (I mean, you're always tired on a commute because it's either morning or after a long workday) but generally it isn't too bad. May I recommend any of Mary Roach's books? They're quite funny while being informative. And each chapter is about something new, so it's kind of short form but also not. Oh, and biographies by funny people who're narrating themselves! That tends to make it feel less formal first of all, and a bit more engaging. Actually I think that any first person narrative (especially non-fiction written in first person) works best as audiobooks. Cause it's like someone is talking to you about their experiences, and then you will listen. It's rude not to and that's probably ingrained pretty deep. If it's just a third person fictional narrative you'll drift cause who cares?

Oh man, yeah. It's scary thinking about all the things you don't actually know.

Yes, I've been meaning to read more of Mary Roach's work, but of course I have so much that I mean to read--trying nonfiction audiobooks would be a perfect way to start!

I listened to all her available audiobooks. They are all excellent, and have good narrators. So yeah, definitely think it's worth giving a go to see if it might keep you from drifting away!