Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Happy Thursday fellow book nerds! Juanita, our fearless moderator, is on vacation so I'm going to get our weekly check-in started.

I have been struggling to finish books lately - partly because I picked up several very large historical biographies with grand plans to educate myself and partly due to sheer lack of reading time. Well, the biographies have been an epic fail. Turns out I can't make progress when I only have time to read a page or so per day. I hope to try again in the future when I can set aside larger chunks of reading time.

With the approach of autumn, cooler temperatures and the allure of curling up with a cup of hot tea I think I will find myself reading a lot more!

This past week I have only completed one book:



I have decided to copy Christophe and try to read two books per category (eep!) so this book will be the prequel part of my second book and prequel set. It's a compilation of short stories that fit in and amongst the main series books.

I am at 38/41 (59/82)

Question of the Week: Are you a dog-ear/page folder or not?

I am absolutely NOT a dog-ear type of reader (sacrilege!), but my dear sweet daughter is. Sometime she will even come show me that she's turned down the page of her book, but she knows better than to do it to my books!

Happy Reading!

My weekly check in is easy - I haven't read a single thing. In fact, i think over the course of the week I might have read like 10 pages. I'm not in a slump - its just been unbelievably busy and I'm too tired to read. So I'm still working on Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps and The Eighth Guardian.

My totals are 32/41 for this and 25/52 for the Around the Year Challenge. I agree that autumn coming I should be able to read more. Considering Football will be on the TV 24-7 and that's not so not my thing. That's unheard of here in Pittsburgh haha

QOTW Eek! I dog ear! Ahh! But I also use random things as bookmarks - like the due back receipt from the library. Even though I have tons of cute bookmarks that I could use I just never find myself reaching for them.

No books finished for the challenge this week. I did finish a book (a very surprising book, and I mean that in a very good way): A Mystery's No Problem by Lou Rowan. It could have fit in the "published in 2016" or in the "murder mystery" (even though that would have been a bit far-fetched) slot for instance, but I have my own rule about having only one book per author and I already included Lou Rowan's My Last Days for the "less than 150 pages" prompt...



QOTW: Good gracious, NO WAY. That's why bookmarks were invented, weren't they? I have tons of bookmarks I get from bookstores but any slip of paper can be used. I sometimes try to use a thematically appropriate paper: I have a 1000 francs CFA banknote (worth a few cents) in Amadou Hampaté Ba's memoirs, for instance. Tickets to museums, shows or even ski lifts make nice bookmarks too.

And as a final note, congratulations to Sara who became a victim of my bad influence! :-)

Megan wrote: "I also use random things as bookmarks - like the due back receipt from the library. Even though I have tons of cute bookmarks that I could use I just never find myself reaching for them."

Oh, I do this too! Receipts (library or otherwise), scrap paper, etc. In a pinch I've even been known to stick my phone in my book. I can see how folding down the page would be helpful when you need a bookmark, but I just can't do it!

I've finished two books, Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley (a graphic novel) for a book published in 2016, and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny for my Around the Year Challenge.

I'm at 21/41.

QOTW: No, I definitely don't dog ear! I have bookmarks all over the house or I just use whatever flat piece of paper is around.

Christophe wrote: "And as a final note, congratulations to Sara who became a victim of my bad influence! :-) "

Ha! If the worst influence in my life is to read more books then I am doing ok! :)

Nothing new to report. Still working on the audiobook of The Assistants - the reader is good, but I think I'm getting hampered by the fact that it's SO light and breezy that I could finish it in hard copy in a couple of hours, so I don't really want to commit 7+ to the audio version.

QOTW: I fear I'm about to get kicked out of the group! Not only do I dog-ear, but until relatively recently in my life I wrote in and highlighted library books. (I've stopped, I swear!)

Seems like we're all having a slow week. Nothing to report also, but I am working on my Europeean book: Atonement. I like it a lot so far. I am at 30/41.

QOTW: No dog-ear here. I usually have a picture of my sons as bookmark.

I just finished a book that I started in JUNE, so I'm feeling like I had a good week! (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, for another challenge.) I also finished Night at the Fiestas for my home state book, and I knocked off a lovely book of poetry (Steep Tea) just to get my books completed count up. :)

I'm still listening to Richard Armitage read David Copperfield (He's so, so, SO good. I've been cleaning a lot more just so I can listen to it.) I have about 10 hours to go, so I've got at least another week left.

That said, I'm taking a break from the Victorian literature and starting The Book of Phoenix so I can knock off my prequel challenge. (I finished Who Fears Death about a month ago.)

QOTW: I don't intentionally dog-ear pages, but I'm always carrying a book in my purse, and sometimes I toss things in and pages get bent. I do like to use boarding passes and train tickets for bookmarks.

I've finished The Little Prince for the first book I saw in the bookstore. Well, not really in a bookstore, more correctly in a grocery store since I am mostly used to ordering online from The Book Depository. The book was ok, I think I didn't really miss anything because I never read it as a child or got it as a required reading. Now I'm about to concentrate more on The Clan of the Cave Bear because I got distracted by LibriVox and The War of the Worlds.
Currently at 32/40.

QOTW: I was that kind of a child who dog-earred everything, from mum's magazines to books. But I've learned better and now I have a slight OCD in using bookmarks and connecting them with books. The only exception in wrinkling a page is dropping my wallet in a bag and mistaking an open book for a clear space. Oh well...

This week, I completed To Kill A Mockingbird (read in high school). I remember liking it in high school, but I really remembered nothing about it, so at least it didn't feel like a reread.

QOTW: I will use literally anything to avoid dog-earing my books. Pretty sure I've even used my cat when I needed to get up for a quick second.

I just finished The Bremer Detail: Protecting the Most Threatened Man in the World by Frank Gallagher. After the Iraqi war ended, Bush appointed Paul Bremer as the Envoy who was given the orders to stabilize the country. He immediately became the most threatened man in the world, therefore a private firm by the name of Blackwater was hired to protect him. Frank Gallagher became the man responsible. Gallagher wrote this with the assistance of a professional writer, but it is definitely his voice so I listed this as a political memoir.

Thanks, Sara!

I'm sensing a theme with this week's check-in: I haven't finished a book let alone completed a prompt. I'm reading A Prayer for Owen Meany for my book club (meeting is a week from today). It's 600+ pages and I've been stuck on page 175 for the entire week. Vacationing has really cut into my reading time. Course most of my vacation has involved water parks and water parks and Kindles don't really mix.

Question of the week: I do not dog ear books. I don't even open hard cover books all the way for fear the spine will crack. And yes, I have used my phone for a book mark. And slips of paper and (most recently) a $20 bill until I needed it. I have yet to use my cat as a bookmark but my cats are still kittens and don't sit still very long.

It's been a good book week for me! I decided to do the challenge this year when it was announced, and found I had a few books that would work already. I really just read/listened to what I wanted and knew most of them would slot in somewhere. About a week ago I really cracked down on checking my progress and finding new books to fill in the gaps. Thanks to you I've made great progress!

I finished three books. Moletown is a picture book from Torben Kulhmann. Honestly it's just a placeholder in A book you can finish in a day for his next book, which was released today. Judge me if you want, he makes beautiful picture books.

I listened to Dark Matter for my sci-fi book. It was a lot of fun. I also finally finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, which I'll use for my job book, even though the store I manage is not a bookstore.

I'm currently listening to Elija Woods read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Heroes of the Negro Leagues is in my bag for bus time, The President's Hat is on the nightstand, and I really should get back to Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things.

I picked up a ton of books this week! Both print and audio, most on sale, used, or at Dollar Tree. At least I'll have plenty to read while I replenish the bank account.

QOTW: I NEVER dog-ear! If I lend a book to someone and it comes back that way, they don't get to borrow my books again. I will use just about anything flat for a bookmark, but I do like a nice or fun one. In fact, the book I just reading, the paperback of The President's Hat has one built-in! I'm not sure I can bring myself to detach it, though.

I've been slowing down with my reading quite about lately too, but I did manage to finish Cinder for my book based on a fairy tale. That puts me at 29/41. Only 3 book per month from here on out and I will have completed the challenge!

And I don't dog ear ever! I think I used to as a kid, but now I can't stand it. I work at the library and when I have to undo peoples dog eared pages it bothers me, haha. I even had a kids book come back with one of the pages dog eared all the way into the middle of the book instead of just a small corner! I do use some pretty random bookmarks though, usually whatever I can find to throw in there.

I'm part of the trend and I have no progress to report. Holding steady at 28/41. I'm going on vacation soon so I expect to get a lot more reading done in my down time though.

QOTW: I absolutely do NOT dog-ear. I hate it. I don't even like to break the spines on my books if I can help it and if I lend out a hardcover book, I keep the jacket. It serves the dual purpose of keeping it safe and to keep track of which books I've lent out. I did have a friend that I lend to regularly who dog-eared but I (not so) casually mentioned to her how much it bothers me and she promised to never do it again.

I finished Siddhartha for my Book Translated to English.

That puts me at 34/41.

Currently reading Yes Please for my New York Times Bestseller.

Next up (and I can't wait!) for our September challenge is Zodiac!

Just say no to dog ears!

This week I finished the murder mystery, Seeking Whom He May Devour (it was okay), and the audiobook of Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter (audio version was great, but my overall impression of the book was, "meh, maybe Amy Tan is not my thing.")

QOTW Yes I dogear! If I come across a passage that I want to go back to later, and I don't have any post its or scrap paper handy, I will fold down the corner. I also crack spines, and I lay my books facedown if I have to get up for a minute. I know, I was raised by wolves. I treat my graphic novels like the works of art they are, though, and I'm sure to not bend or fold any part of them, especially not the cover! (I really hate when graphic novels get those bend-creases in their covers!)

I'm at 40/41! I'm reading my LAST book for this challenge! Pretty Girls. I can't believe it's almost over! Is there a discussion thread for "I finished the challenge??"

This week I finished
1. Book I haven't read since High School The Scarlet Letter
2. Political Memoir Outsider in the White House
3. Book with a protagonist who has your occupation Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (I know I'm not a cat, but I'm a volunteer librarian)

QOTW I can't remember the last time I dog-eared a book. I remember doing it to my own paperback books when I was younger, but never hardcover or library/borrowed books. I've used money, receipts, envelopes, whatever trash I can find in my purse, but mostly actual bookmarks. We have a plethora of them at my house! I used to like the bookmarks with the little tassels, but now my cat likes them too and was tearing them up so I switched to plain cardstock bookmarks that I grab at the library.

Finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and started The Girl on the Train. Mostly use bookmarks but occasionally if I own the book I might dog ear...but only occasionally.

I didn't read anything for this challenge, although I had quite a productive week toward one of my other challenges. I used to dog-ear or fold my pages down all the time when I was younger. A classmate of mine even asked me why once, and said it ruins the book (a bit funny, now that I'm thinking about it, because he wasn't a reader or as far as I know someone who really cared about books at all). As I got older and started owning more of my own books, I switched over to using bookmarks because I started to hate when my books were damaged or dog-eared.

I'm late on posting this week, sorry! We took the weekend to visit my mom in Michigan and then are finishing up the weekend in Chicago.

This week I finished two books for the challenge:
1. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear for my self-help book. It was decently interesting, but self-help books are NOT my jam. I think I just don't like it when books talk to me.
2. The Harlem Hellfighters So for this, I did some re-arranging of my list. I had previously read Persepolis for my graphic novel and had rented a giant tome from the library by Madeleine Albright for my political memoir, and I just did NOT want to read it. So instead I'm counting Persepolis as my political memoir (saw someone else did and loved the idea!) and am doing this as my graphic novel.

This means I'm on my last book, which I expect to finish today!

40/41

QOTW: No way, bookmarks all the way!

Hi everyone! It seems I'm not alone in my inability to really get into books lately. I've picked up and started and laid back down 3 or so books recently. They're all books that have high praise, I just think I'm not mentally ready for them right now. I'll come back to them later.

I did finish 1 book this week, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. I had to read it for my International Nutrition class this semester but it filled my book about a culture I'm unfamiliar with. It was really interesting for those into health, nutrition and how to live to maximize longevity. So now I have finished 18 of the 41 books for the challenge.

I'm now reading The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo for the book written by a comedian. It's pretty good! And I'm also working on Big Little Lies, but not sure which prompt that one will fulfill.

QOTW: No do earring!! Bookmarks are the way to go!

Linnie wrote: "And I'm also working on Big Little Lies, but not sure which prompt that one will fulfill. "

A fun one would be "takes place on an island" if you haven't used that one. Our only island continent afterall.

Juanita wrote: "Linnie wrote: "And I'm also working on Big Little Lies, but not sure which prompt that one will fulfill. "

A fun one would be "takes place on an island" if you haven't used that one. Our only isla..."

I totally didn't think of that! Thank you!