Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

This one I find intriguing. I can think of several that would fit this topic: The End of Your Life Book Club, When Breath Becomes Air, Wave and even Girl, Interrupted.

ETA: Push is the novel that the movie Precious was based on. It is a very difficult read.

I want to suggest We Need to Talk About Kevin and Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

I don't like difficult topics, so this one will be *difficult* for me. I am thinking about Speak because it gets so many accolades, and I think it won't be so difficult that I can't stand to read it.

I see The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian included in some lists of "YA books about problems" - I don't actually know if this book qualifies for this category?

Other possibilities that may or may not qualify here:

Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol (does this count as "difficult"? I have no idea.)

Tampa (surely statutory rape counts as difficult!)

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

I have these on my list

All the Rage
Hate List
Damage Done
The Way I Used to Be
738 Days
What We Saw

I will recommend Black Like Me. I read it for the "Read in High School" prompt for 2016.

Nadine wrote: "I see The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian included in some lists of "YA books about problems" - I don't actually know if this book qualifies for this category?"

It could. The difficulties of life on the reservation, alcoholism, being "other" among your peers, bullying... As a teen these are very difficult topics. Here they are just related in a more light-hearted, humor-as-defense-mechanism kind of way.

I saw someone else was reading You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain for the 2016 challenge and I immediately put it on my list.

It doesn't sound too heavy, but anything regarding race I think is a difficult issue.

Cathy Glass writes about foster care and the cases she has written about are often very difficult to read. Still I recommend her. The books are very reasonably priced as well, at least for the Kindle.

I think Me Before You works well for this prompt!

What about Room? I've kind of dreaded reading that book.

Marianne wrote: "What about Room? I've kind of dreaded reading that book."

I think it would count. I read Room, and I really enjoyed it! What's making you dread it?

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

The Bell Jar but you might want to use this one for movie coming out in 2017

Marilyn wrote: "The Bell Jar but you might want to use this one for movie coming out in 2017"

I looked this up and saw that a movie came out in 1979 and another one is slated for 2018? Did I miss something here?

Therese wrote: "Marilyn wrote: "The Bell Jar but you might want to use this one for movie coming out in 2017"

I looked this up and saw that a movie came out in 1979 and another one is slated for 2018?..."

I saw it on a list somewhere and now can't find it again. Also, I saw A Wrinkle in Time before and now that also appears to be scheduled for 2018. I may just wait on the movie category to see what does come out and then read the book.

Marianne wrote: "What about Room? I've kind of dreaded reading that book."

Room is not what you think and not scary! I didn't see the movie but the book was fascinating because it's all told by the little boy.

I confess I'm afraid to read Room too. I can't help thinking of the horrible Ariel Castro. That doesn't seem like entertainment.

Nadine wrote: "I confess I'm afraid to read Room too. I can't help thinking of the horrible Ariel Castro. That doesn't seem like entertainment."

One of the reasons I didn't watch the movie, and definitely can't read the book. Wayyy too heavy for me.

I loved room but I love true crime, anyone who is interested the books that Michelle knight and Amanda Barry wrote are both great too, also the one by Jaycee dugard. They are most certainly about difficult subjects (the same one)

Almost anything by Jodi Picoult.

I'm going memoir here, of one I've been wanting to read for a while. The Sound of Gravel is by someone who grew up in a FLDS sect in Mexico and eventually got out.

This Is How It Always Is

Small Great Things

Lindi wrote: "I saw someone else was reading You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain for the 2016 challenge and I immediately put it on my list.

It doesn't sound too he..."

Lindi, I read this a while back! It's not a heavy read by any means, but it's not fluff, either - while a lot of the book is more comedic, there are a few chapters that go more in-depth on racism and sexism she's experienced. A good choice for this category!

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is about the slave trade and slavery, a difficult topic for me.

I will be reading The End of Your Life Book Club. It's #7 on my TBR list! And I've been avoiding it.

Here we go!

I just read Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, and that would work well for this prompt.

I may read Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives (non-fiction about young victims of gun violence). Two other similar suggestions would be This Is Where It Ends and Nineteen Minutes, fictional books dealing with school shootings.

Purge by Sofi Oksanen, it's about sexual violence towards women during the Soviet occupation and also about sex-trafficking during the modern times. It's also about the lengths people go through in order to survive. (A trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNpZ...)

I am reading The Slap which is about smacking (a contentious and divisive issue amongst my friends who have children)

I'm going with Introducing Quantum Theory.

Stina wrote: "I'm going with Introducing Quantum Theory."

OMG that looks amazing, and it didn't even occur to me to consider "a difficult topic to master" :-) I like it! that's thinking outside of the box! so now the only question: is the cat still alive inside the box?

Stina wrote: "I'm going with Introducing Quantum Theory."

Then read Dark Matter for your 2016 bestseller. That would be an excellent pairing.

Rachel wrote: "Marianne wrote: "What about Room? I've kind of dreaded reading that book."

I think it would count. I read Room, and I really enjoyed it! What's making you dread it?"

I liked this book too! What makes it so fascinating is precisely that it deals with a difficult subject without being too heavy. The Heart: A Novel by Maylis de Kerangal is that kind of book too. It's about an organ transplant, not the kind of subject I'm fond of, but it's so beautifully written that it was not a difficult read. (I read it in French. Hope the American translation is a good one!)

A Child Called "It" would fit this category. It's very difficult to read because of the graphic descriptions of child abuse.

For people who want something less traumatic Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl bullied after a sexual assault but is aimed at a more adolescent age group so isn't as graphic. I read it in 2015 and enjoyed it. Anything by Jodi picoult pretty much would work as well. I think I'll read Push by Sapphire (the book on which the movie Precious was based)

poshpenny wrote: "Stina wrote: "I'm going with Introducing Quantum Theory."

Then read Dark Matter for your 2016 bestseller. That would be an excellent pairing."

That does look interesting! I may change my mind, but right now I'm trying to make a dent in the books I already own.

Nadine wrote: "Stina wrote: "I'm going with Introducing Quantum Theory."

OMG that looks amazing, and it didn't even occur to me to consider "a difficult topic to master" :-) I like it! that's think..."

The question is further complicated by the fact that cats have nine lives....

I love that this has turned into a series of Schrodinger's cat references. (who is both alive AND dead.)

Looking at my TBR I have some contenders:

The Face on the Milk Carton
The Violin of Auschwitz

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White
In Cold Blood
The Siege: 68 Hours Inside The Taj Hotel

Nadine wrote: "OMG that looks amazing, and it didn't even occur to me to consider "a difficult topic to master" :-) I like it! that's thinking outside of the box! so now the only question: is the cat still alive inside the box? ..."

Haha, I was thinking the same thing, Nadine. Definitely thinking outside the box!

I"m reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult and it's a tough read for sure. Most of her books are.

Also, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson would work for this prompt.

I feel like several of the books Jon Krakauer has written would work for this. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster was my first by him and it was a rough ride once it got into the meat of the story. Into the Wild is about a young man who disappears on a vision quest and turns up dead. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith is about the FLDS sect out west.

I think I'll be reading Qur'an and Women: A Narration of Liberation for this one. In this day and age, I think it qualifies.

Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

I'm interpreting this one a little differently so I can squeeze in a book about something I want to learn :)

3,096 Days
I am thinking of this one. Remember when it broke the news that she had been found alive and kept trapped in a tiny room for 7 years.

Anything by Mary Roach
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

She certainly tackles some interesting topics

Would Violent Ends work for this? It's about a school shooting.

Allie wrote: "Would Violent Ends work for this? It's about a school shooting."

I would count it!

Speak is an excellent book, I've read it twice, both as a teen and as an adult.

A Child Called "It" is also very good, my sister adores this particular series, though it's topic is indeed very difficult to read about.

I've read The Bell Jar before as well, and it really sucked me in. (Hard to say I enjoyed it because it's not an enjoyable thing.)

I think I am going to read, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City for this prompt.

Thanks to Tricia, I put Stiff on my list and also Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab but I will most probably read The Wednesday Group because I had a marriage destroyed by this problem that no one wants to talk about.

Some non-fiction - I've read excellent book about the hunger Głód but, unfortunately, I don't see an English translation. Second one is about King Leopold of Belgium’s actions in the Congo at the end of the 19th century: King Leopold's Ghost and I'm definitely reading it in 2017.