Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Hello fellow readers. It’s check-in time again!

We've had a cool down overnight with a massive front moving through the Southeastern part of the US. I'm enjoying all the mild days we are having right now because I know summer will be here soon and with it that unbearable heat!

I finally made some reading .progress this week. Books I finished:

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women – book published in 2017. This is the story of the girls poisoned by radium in the luminous paint they were using to paint dials in the 1920’s. It’s a smooth read, not at all dry, and very much focused on the girls and what they went through.
A Rule Against Murder - #4 in the Inspector Gamache series. Currently I don’t have this slotted for the challenge.
The Knockoff – book with multiple authors. I don’t know quite what to make of this book. At times it was quite entertaining, and the main character is likeable, but some of the other characters are so irritating that I wanted to turn off the audiobook sometimes.

Currently reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo – good read, but progress is slow. I just made it to 25% last night.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – one of my favorite movies from childhood, but I’ve never read the book. I’m listening to this on audio. Enjoying it. This will be my book from a nonhuman perspective.

16/40 and 5/12

Question of the week:

This week’s question is courtesy of Nadine.

Binge reading – do you binge read published books in a series or spread them out? What about an author’s collective works – do you feel compelled to read everything written by a favorite author?

I used to binge read series, but since I’ve started the reading challenges I have too many other things to allow for reading a series straight through. I don’t like to put more than 2 or 3 books from one series or author on the challenge since my goal is to read a broad selection of books.

I do not feel the need to read an author’s collective works. There are some where I’ve read all or most of their books but not with that intent.

I went from having a great reading week last week to a poor reading week this week :( Still at 13/40.

I didn't finish a single book this week. I'm close to finishing UnWholly but that won't even count as a challenge read - just my personal goal of finishing off a series. I want to read UnSouled and UnDivided next and then I will get back to the reading challenge.

Which is a great segue into the QOTW

I love binge reading series. I have learned (sadly) that I can not keep all the story lines to books separately. Especially all the young adult ones where the is very small differences in the plot lines. So I have a goodreads shelf that is titled "Marathon-This" and that's my shelf for all the series that I want to read.

As far as author's collective works, if I find an author that I like I will seek out their other books and add them to my to-be-read. I'm slowly working my way through Sophie Kinsella and I would like to continue Jojo Moyes's books. I know some people don't feel the same but I do like Nicholas Sparks's books (Don't kill me Nadine!) When I discovered Colleen Hoover I was on a mission to read all of her books too.

I'm back on the reading train!

I finished 3 books this week after not finishing any last week.

First was The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read because of the format.

Second, I finished Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella. This is a great book if you need a light chick-lit (as most of Sophie Kinsella's books are).

Last, I finished Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead. This book was pretty good. The stories weaved in and out and were compelling, however, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters. I will put this in the set in two different time periods promts (1970s - 2000s).

QOTW: I do not binge read series, however, I do finish every series I start. I am such a finisher that I just can't stop in the middle of the series. I try to continue on with the series fairly recently after I finish one book, so I don't forget everything that happened. I think the only author I have read all the works is Emily Giffin. Like I said above though, I am a finisher so if I find an author I like, I do want to read everything he or she has written. It's a work in progress!

I'm on a YA kick right now and have a handful of YA coming up on my TBR pile.

This week I finished
Tiny, Pretty Things by Sonia Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton. It’s about girls at a ballet school. I enjoyed and ordered the second of the series. It would work for book with multiple authors although I’ve already ticked off that task.

And
A World Without You by Beth Revis. It’s about depression and grief and mental illness and it was pretty good. It would work for a difficult subject task which I’ve already ticked off as well.

And
The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis. This book was also about grief as the main character has lost her best friend.

I had one DNF. A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison. I picked it up because it had a cute cover and I always have a handful of students who want to read love stories with no supernatural elements or dystopia involved. Every other page was about sex and losing their virginity. It was overkill. I made it about 75 pages before I gave up.

QOTW: I don’t binge read because I like to spread out series. For instance, I finally caught up all the Kate Daniels series before Christmas and I have to wait until next month when the latest comes out in paperback. I’m impatient.

All I finished this week was The Sun Also Rises as my book involving travel. I really love Hemingway's style, and it just further confirms that I was born in the wrong time period. But man, a lot of those characters were the literal worst friends and overall crappy people.

I'm half reading, half listening to Vanity Fair as my pick for a book with a subtitle. I picked it off a list of "books you didn't realize had subtitles" because nothing else really caught my eye. The audiobook is like 35 hours long, I suspect I will finish this book by December.

15/40; 1/12

QOTW: I binge read when the fancy stikes. I do it with Harry Potter every year or so. But with the reading challenge it's harder to manage time for that. I really want to read all the rest of the books after The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I found that book charming as hell but I just haven't gotten around to the rest of the series yet. After I read Night Film, I knew I had to get my hands on Special Topics in Calamity Physics and am impatiently waiting for her new books to be published. Outside of say, the Brontës and Austen, reading a complete collection usually isn't top priority.

Finished another book for popsugar, but finally got moving on a few other challenges as well :-)
✅ A book recommended by an author you love - Den filippinske pirat ⭐️⭐️⭐️

QOTW: This book is part of e trilogy recommended by one of my favorite Danish authors, and HER books I binge read, simply because I couldn't stop :-D

In my challenges I try to fit in several books from series I really like - if too much time lapses between reading the series, I tend to forget some of the things, that ties the books together...

I started Ichthus: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour for the prompt "a book with multiple authors".

During Lent I enjoy reading spiritual and theological books and especially since I have decided on the Bible as my book for over 800 pages I would like to say that it is still going strong (20% done!)

Progress: 11/52

QOTW: I don't binge read series. I want to, but my personality craves variety so in fact I rarely finish a series.

I'm with Megan at not finishing anything in the past week. I think I was a bit burnt out, having been reading intensely the week before. And then I got busy do a deep clean of the house, as my toddler now has speech therapy at home and I wanted it to look nice for the first meeting. I thought aboutinf waiting until tonight to check in, since I think I'd be done at least one book, but I'm a bit sick - nothing too bad, but with the two girls to chase after, I'm way too exhausted and any reading time may be spent dozing instead.

So, this is what I'm working my way through right now:

Children of the New World: Stories - I need to focus on these soon because they are so good. But they are on my kindle and short stories - I read more on my phone lately and I keep reading one story and then getting distracted by whatever's on my phone.

Before Green Gables - I'm listening to this on audio. I love the Anne books and so when I found out this existed, I couldn't resist. Sadly, it's very repetitive and a bit boring. However, sets me up to watch the new tv adaptation. I have perhaps two hours left, but I'm listening at 1.5 speed, so the chances are good it will be done by tonight. I definitely want to be done with it!

Economix: How and Why Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures - I have several librarian friends and so I asked them al on FB for recommendations for that prompt. I'd like to read all the recommendations I got, so I may try and slot some in elsewhere. This is a graphic novel that explains the basics and is quite interesting - I've got about half left to go.

QOTW: I both binge and don't binge series. It really depends. Harry Potter, for example, I didn't get into until just before the first movie came out - I didn't have time before while at university. So I binged four of the books (and I was living in Edinburgh at the time, where Rowling lives and wrote them - in fact, I read parts int eh same cafe she wrote the first in!) and then read each as it came out. The Huger Games I binge read all three while backpacking around SE Asia and I remember how annoyed I was that I had a hard time getting a copy of the third. But, for something like a mystery series, where the continuing plot isn't as key, I like to space them out a bit. Right now I'm working my way through Loise Penny's novels, a reread of Agatha Chrisitie's Poirot books and the Discworld novels. But I like to space those out between other things and I often have to wait for a hold at the library. My aim is to read 1-3 or so of them each year.

Favourite authors - I definitely intend to finish every last thing they wrote, but I don't binge through them because hen I will run out of things to read! Margaret Atwood is my favourite author and I still have plenty of older novels, poems and the children's books to catch up on, though I read her newer stuff as t comes out, usually.

I did binge read, both series and authors, as a teen. I used to do a ton of rereading back then too.

I finished American Pastoral by Philip Roth which is coincidentally the first book in a series which knocks that one out. I don't feel compelled to binge read a series though- I'll just get round to it sometime. I will binge watch tv shows though.

I started Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon for the steampunk one- its 1000+ page whopper so I thought I better get going. I started The Great Cat Massacre and other episodes in French cultural history by Robert Darnton for book with a cat on the cover. Kinda dry so far.

I will go search out authors other works if I really like a book but still with a -'I'll get to it when I get to it' mentality. I did that with Wallace Stegner and Mary Renault years ago and still plodding through their oeuvre

I'm 26/52

Megan wrote: " ... but I do like Nicholas Sparks's books (Don't kill me Nadine!) ..."

LOL I'm perfectly happy to be friends with Nicholas Sparks fans :-). Just don't make me read anything else by him!!

I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir last week. The audiobook version was wonderful and brought the humor to life.

I have a problem with starting series from an author in the middle: it keeps happening even though I hate doing it. :) It tends to happen when someone gifts me a book. I'll finish the book and then look it up on the internet only to realize that it's not the first of the series.

Hi week 14! It is chilly and rainy here in central NY, which is lovely weather for my early spring bulbs but also leads to muddy dog paws. I don't really love mowing the lawn (except that it gives me extra audiobook time!), but it will be nice when the grass starts growing so I don't have so much mud in my back yard.

I finished four books this week, one of them for the Challenge.

The Sisters Brothers - for "family member term in title" - this was a charmingly off-kilter western, quite different from my usual read, very "Coen-brothers-esque " (complete w Coen brothers level of violence)

Everything You Want Me to Be - this would work for "published in 2017" - I didn't really like it much though.

The Killer Inside Me - I thought I was going to use this for "unreliable narrator" but it didn't really seem to fit that. I'm glad I read it though, and now I want to see the movie from a few years back.

The Ghost Bride - this got on my TBR list from last year's Book Riot challenge to read a book by an author from Southeast Asia; I ended up reading something else for that (Smaller and Smaller Circles), but I still wanted to read this book too. It was very disappointing. I think if it had been marketed as a YA fantasy, I would have loved it. But I expected grown-up historical fiction, and that, it was not. The protagonist is 17, and she acts her age; there is insta-love galore, complete with requisite love triangle, plus a lot of repetition and obvious clues that were ignored.

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben (Myron Bolitar #1) - this made me laugh more than any audiobook has ever made me laugh! Such a fun discovery for me!

And, exciting news for me, I FINALLY got a copy of Hidden Figures from the library!! I should finish it next week, just a few weeks late for the March read.

QOTW No I don't binge read, but this question popped into my head when I finished book #1 in Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series and immediately downloaded book #2. I usually avoid it because I need a book to feel fresh and new in order to fully enjoy it. I can get tired of one author's turns of phrase if I keep reading them week after week. I usually let at least a few months go between books in a series, sometimes a full year. I made an exception for Myron because it was pretty short and made me laugh a lot. (I can already tell I will stop here though, and let some time pass before book #3.)

For a series that is a continuing story with lots of details (like Maas's Throne of Glass series, which I kinda hate but can't stop reading because I need to know what happens next), I write a detailed recap in my GR review and spoiler-tag it (I would prefer to use the GR "private note" feature, but that has a really low character limit so I can't fit it), so then I can go read my recap when I'm ready for the next book.

When I find an author I love, I do try to read everything by her/him, but I generally read no more than two books by the same author in one year. (Since most authors take a few years to write a book, I eventually get caught up!) Right now I'm working on completing books from: Bryn Greenwood, Lauren Willig, Tana French, and Neil Gaiman. I've got a ways to go yet with French.

Week 14 - 24/40 & 2/12 (26/52)

I only finished one book this week, but that moved me up to halfway through the challenge, so I'm going to call it a win.

I started and finished We Were Liars by E. Lockhart for challenge prompt #29, a book with an unreliable narrator. I thought it was an okay book, but I was glad that I listened to the audio version, because the narrator really brought the character to life. I've seen other people complain about the writing style, so it sounds like audio was the way to go.

I am still reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for prompt #10 on the advanced list, a book that's mentioned in another book. I'm also still reading The Lake House by Kate Morton for challenge prompt #2, a book that's been on your TBR list for way too long (although I might switch it to prompt #33, a book set in two different time periods - not sure yet).

I think I've decided to give up on Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. I used to look at it and think about picking it back up, but now I don't even look at it anymore. I will try it again at another time, but I doubt it will be this year, so I'll have to find another book to fulfill prompt #37, a book that's becoming a movie in 2017.

QOTW: I love to binge read series, and actually did it just recently with the Lunar Chronicles. I started Cinder on January 28th, and got through Scarlet, Cress, Winter, and Stars Above by March 14th, and that was while I was continuing to read other books for the challenge. I did use three of the five books to fill challenge prompts (Cinder for told from a non-human perspective, Scarlet for book with character's name in the title, and Winter for the advanced challenge prompt of a book that's more than 800 pages). I just got so excited about them, because I haven't found a good series like that in a long time, and I just couldn't put them down. If all the books are out, I want to read them one after another and just get through them, although I'm always sad when a series is over.

Terry wrote: "I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir last week. The audiobook version was wonderful and brought the humor to life.

I have a problem with starting series from an author in the middle: it keeps happening even though I hate doing it. :) It tends to happen when someone gifts me a book. I'll finish the book and then look it up on the internet only to realize that it's not the first of the series."

Loved The Martian :)

Maybe books should be required to list their series # on the cover so that you KNOW you have a series book in your hands! :)

Hello, fellow readers.

I haven't updated in a few weeks, but I have been reading. The last few weeks I found I really had to force myself to read, and I decided I needed a break from the challenge books I was less excited about and read some lighter works.

Read:
-I Can't Think Straight (A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you), which was meh at best.
- We Were Liars (A book with an unreliable narrator)--the April Group Read--which I mostly enjoyed.

Both were quick, easy reads.

This brings me to 23/40. I'm leaning towards doing the Advanced Challenge. If I do, I'm 1/12 so far.

In progress:
- Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories
This book has been with me through every step of this challenge so far, and it will continue with me for a little while longer. I did finally manage to make some progress, talking me to 65% complete. But I only have 10 more stories to read(!), which means, I'll be reading this for at least 10 more challenge books. (I have a personal rule I can't start a new book until I read a story from this book).
- Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine - I just started this last night for "a book about food".

QotW
I don't tend to read books in series. I just don't think my preferred genres are written in series. However, when I have read books in a series (Hunger Games, Allegiant, etc), I tend to want to binge them. This is mostly so I don't get spoiled.

If I like an author's work, I will seek out other things they've written. But I don't often read their entire catalogue. Jane Austen, of course. I've read all her novels (and anything else she wrote) multiple times. I've also read everything J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith has written. Same goes for Rainbow Rowell's works, which hasn't been as successful, since nothing's quite reached Eleanor & Park (the first of hers I read) levels for me. And there's a newer, indie author, Kelly Quindlen, who is in the I'll-read-anything-you-write category for me, but I find these authors to be exceptions rather than rules.

I did go on Thomas Hardy and John Grishamkicks at different points in my life, but I stopped reading both. The former because, as brilliant as he is, he's so depressing; the latter because after 8 or so books, I knew how the other ones were going to go. I owe Grisham my love of reading, though. If not for 14 year-old me picking up The Firm on a whim, I wouldn't probably have my MA in English.

It's slushing in west Michigan. It's the weirdest thing ever.

I finished one book since last checkin. Breathing Should Never Be Hard Work: One Man's Journey With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, which works for a book with a subtitle. I am not sure if I will use it for the challenge though. It was a quick read. More research for me since my husband was just diagnosed with this illness.

I have abandoned Ready Player One after reading more than 100 pages. It's not holding my attention the way it has for others. I may come back to it. I hate to invest that much in a book and then walk away. It would be my second DNF for the year and I never DNF.

I moved on to Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon. I really do read a lot of memoirs and I just finished Bruce Springsteen's autobiography. This is the first time I can ever remember thinking that a memoir is too intimate. And I've read Jenny Lawson and Caitlin Moran! I should finish the Carly Simon book in the coming days.

QoftheWeek
I'm totally guilty of this. I read the entire Lunar Chronicles series in about two months last year. And when I discovered Rainbow Rowell, I read most of her books. Same with John Greene. And then I get burned out on them and walk away from them for a year or more.

I have finished several books already this week. I finished Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathon Kellerman for the book set in a hotel category.
I finished (in less than 24 hours) The Sleeping Beauty Killer by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke for the book written by multiple authors category.
I also finished The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware for the author from a country never visited category.
I am currently reading Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire.

To answer the question: it depends on the series. I usually will get sucked into a series and will usually break the books up by reading something before the next book but if it's really good, I forgo all other books on my shelf. That hasn't happened in a while though. I used to binge read the series and now I just binge read, period.

Oh and if I love an author i.e. Jodi Picoult, I definitely have to ready every book ever written by them. And I almost have

I had a good week and finished 3 books. So my progress is now 16/40

I finished She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth for a book about an interesting woman - women in this case. I really enjoyed this.

Then also finished Exposure for my espionage thriller. Not a typical spy novel - far more of a period and character piece, but once I got into it I did find it gripping and would definitely recommend.

I also read The Cuckoo's Calling for my book by an author that uses a pseudonym. My favourite of this week's reads. I would like to go on and binge read the rest, but I should cross a few more off the challenge list first I think.

Which brings us on to the QOTW - I have binge read some series when there have been a few already out and available. The Hunger Games were one, The Northern Lights books by Philip Pullman also. I read Soulless for this challenge and could easily have binge read the rest, though I decided to tick off some more prompts first. Although I originally read them separately as they came out, I have since binge read Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books. When I first discovered Georgette Heyer I binge read a lot by her. As a teen I read everything by Jane Austen pretty much back to back. It's more usual for me to space things out though. I'm rally looking forward to Hilary Mantel's follow up to Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies, but doubt I could have managed all three back to back!

Good morning, everyone! I finished 3 books this week - and probably could have made it 4, but I got distracted watching clips from season 1 of "The O.C." on my phone last night, like you do.

For the Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge, I read Empire of Ivory to fill the "book in the backlist of a new favorite author" prompt. Brings me to 6/12 for this challenge.

For the Popsugar challenge, I read Shades of Milk and Honey for the "first book in a series you haven't read before" prompt and Victory of Eagles for the "book with a red spine" prompt. I'm now at 16/40 of this challenge, after deciding not to include a book I'd previously had slotted in.

QOTW: I'm usually not a binge-reader or a series reader, but right now I'm binge-reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, and I'm loving it! (See above: Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles are books 4 and 5 in this series.) I'm only letting myself binge-read it because the series is complete, though; if it were in-progress, I'd try to take it more slowly. And I don't think I'll let myself use the remaining ones for challenge prompts, since they really aren't encouraging me to read more widely, which is part of why I do these challenges.

I'll occasionally attempt an author's complete works, but that doesn't really tempt me; I've been slowly working on reading all of Toni Morrison's and James Baldwin's novels, but I see that as a years-long project.

Nicole wrote: "I'll have to find another book to fulfill prompt #37, a book that's becoming a movie in 2017."

The Goodreads blog just posted an article earlier this week with a list. It includes both tv and movie adaptations, but I think a "book to screen" interpretation of the prompt is perfectly acceptable. Maybe you'll find something new suggested there:

https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/8...

Greetings from a very rainy Cleveland (with snow predicted for tomorrow - yuck!)

I only read one book for Popsugar this week. I have been concentrating on knocking out some books for the Diversity Bingo Challenge instead. (It was a late addition to my challenge schedule, but I'm so glad I decided to do it - I'm already learning a lot about topics I would've missed otherwise!)

I finished The Girl on the Train for the 2016 bestseller prompt. I wasn't really a fan and gave it 2 stars. I found it very slow for what was billed as a fast-paced thriller. I also was really annoyed that the "unreliable narration" was just being blackout drunk with memories returning suddenly when it became convenient for the plot. I have the movie on hold at the library and will be curious to see how it compares.

This puts me at 12/40 and 4/12.

QOTW: I read almost all stand alones, but when I do read a series, I like to binge read it. I waited to read Shades of Magic this year so that I could read all three at once. (I'm glad I did because A Gathering of Shadows had a huge cliffhangers and I would've been pissed if I had to wait a year!)

Hi Everyone. Finished one book this week. So I'm at 19/40.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life -
I used it for prompt # 15 A book with a subtitle. It could also work for #20 a book about career advice if you are a writer :)

QQTW: If I find a series that I like I read it straight through non stop. I also do the same things with authors that I enjoy. I try to read all of their work that is available. This is the first year that I've done a challenge like this, and the intent is to broaden my scope of books. So its been very hard for me when I've found ones that I like to not stop and want to read all of that series or all by the new author that I found.

Happy Thursday,

It's raining here since 3 days, but we should get some sun next week.

I finished two books this week a very good week for me:

Meanwhile for the book with a red spine. It's a fun book. A choose-your-own adventure comics. I put it as read, but I could do 20 more reading.

Promise at Dawn for a book that is becoming a movie this year. I loved Romain Gary/Emile Ajar other books and the begining of this one was very promising. Unfortunatly, I lost some interrest in the middle part.

Back with the QOTW later.

No progress to report this week. I'm currently reading Ready Player One but I'm all of 2 chapters in. I just haven't had the motivation to get into it yet. I'm not giving up on it (yet) but it just doesn't have any attention grabbing power.

QOTW: I don't read many series any more, but I do like to read a whole series (if available) before moving on. The only authors I'm trying to read the collected works of are Jane Austen and Agatha Christie. I think I've read most if not all of Austen's works, and I've probably read about half of Christie's. I try to space those out though.

Hey all,

Still raining in Vancouver!
I am at 19/40 so far.

This week I finished the book with a subtitle The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly: A Novel. What a fun book! This book is from a series, and this is the third one.

I also finished a book from an author that uses a pseudonym, Shopaholic on Honeymoon. This was a fun romp in Venice with plenty of shopping.

Currently, I have books from a friend and I'm feeling guilty, so I need to read some of those. I just started The Alchemist. I don't usually read spiritual books.

QOTW: Not a binge reader. I think I love variety. So I'll read something and then switch to some history, or true crime, or a biography. As for authors, I think I have read everything by Kathy Reichs ...... But I have read these as they have come out (basically one novel per year since Déjà Dead came out).
I also like Ian Rankin.... but his books would be a heavy/depressing binge!

I finished a few books this week, including one for prompt 16 (published in 2017) - Imperial Valley by Johnny Shaw. I won it in a Goodreads Giveaway so I didn't realize it was part of a series, but it stood on its own just fine. Other than the foul language, I loved it.

I reread Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass this week for another challenge. It's funny - it's one of those books you are sure you've read, and yet when you read it, so many more recent events make you question whether you really did. Reading the double-volume, I realized that most of my Alice memories are from the animated Disney movie, because that movie combines the two volumes into one story. Either way, the book is as magical for me as ever - I never get tired of the absurdity of Wonderland.

I'm still reading Life on the Mississippi, and the ISBN trick Felicia suggested worked for me on the lookup to get the right edition, so thank you.

QOTW: I'll occasionally binge read - more often I start rereading a series and read plenty of other things in between books. Last year I reread The Black Stallion series and it took me all year because I read other books in between. Not because I was bored, just because I have this challenge addiction, lol.

I do like to read all the books written by my favorite authors. I don't usually do it all at once, but once I love an author I'll put all of the rest of their books on my TBR. Of course, my TBR is a hopeless bucket list of books, it is so long, but we have to have goals, right?

I felt like I read a lot this week, though I'm still coming from behind since I only started the challenge in March. Current count: 8/40, 9/52

I finished Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology which I thought was an interesting read. It definitely fit my genre I don't usually read category.

Life After Life was my pick for a book covering an entire life span. The premise was really interesting and I did enjoy it, but it took me a bit to really get into it.

I finished We Were Liars for the unreliable narrator read which was a nice switch from a slower book to one I found to be a quick easy read.

I also read Pivot Point and its follow up Split Second which I didn't pick up for this challenge. The first could count as first in a series if I count two books as a series, so I haven't plugged it into my count yet.

For currently reading, I'm working my way through Stephen King's Insomnia for my 800+ read and I just started Date Me, Baby, One More Time for my book with a mythical creature (it features a dragon as a character).

QOTW: It really depends on the series (and how long the series is). If there are only a couple books and I really enjoyed them (or if there are cliffhangers), I'm more likely to binge read. Since I try to get most books from the library, the wait times don't always allow for true binging.

If there is an author I like, I will usually try to hunt down their books under the premise that I'm very likely to enjoy the rest. I'm currently slowly working my way through Stephen King's long list of books starting from his very beginning (and the corresponding movies if I can get hold of them - good, bad and in between.

Hi everyone,

Also in Michigan here with nasty slush. Lots of rain this week, leading to a failed sump pump and lots of bailing water last night to prevent the basement from flooding. Luckily a plumber was already planned to come out today to deal with said sump pump, along with a new water heater and other jobs. (DIY is great for crafts, and for non-vital home improvement. Maybe should not be applied to plumbing. Unless you actually know what you're doing. Looking at you, previous home owner).

The good news with all that bailing of water, I made some progress in Feed which my library only had in audio book form. Keep running into that, which is frustrating. but in this case, it at least made it less unpleasant to be stuck in a gross little sump pump room bailing endless water. This will be my book written by an author using a pseudonym, since Mira Grant is actually Seanan MacGuire. Cool to find this out though, I love Seanan MacGuire, and i'm really liking the book so far. It's a zombie book, which is kind of overdone, but I like the take on it. It's focus is less on the zombies and more on the changes to society brought on by them.

Kind of waiting on my library to actually make available one of the four titles i'm #1 on right now. So catching up on comics otherwise.

Books I finished this week:

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story this one was a bit of a letdown. the story was good, but there was just too much deviation and infodumping. Her narrative got lost in all the excess information. It's for sure counting as my read harder book about war, and I had planned to use it for popsugar. But then i realized popsugar specified novel, and this was nonfiction. I might just count it anyhow, unless I get ambitious and try the book thief.

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World This is my book about travel for popsugar, and a travel memoir for read harder. It was interesting, about someone looking for happiness by studying countries know for either happiness or unhappiness and trying to find out what causes it. While the subject was interesting, the tone was a little irritating. The dude's obviously a white, privileged male and would talk blithely about going to Qatar and buying an Extremely Expensive Pen just to properly embrace the extravagant life style. He kept talking about what a grump he was, and was so self deprecating I kind of wanted to shake him and say "the reason you're miserable is because you embrace it as part of your image!"

In a Dark, Dark Wood This was supposed to be my book becoming a movie in 2017. It was listed on my library's site as "books becoming a movie" and I kind of assumed it meant this year. Turns out the movie's still in development and casting hasn't even been listed on IMDB yet, much less a release date. But i was waiting for nearly 3 months for this book, and I finished it, so I'm probably counting it anyhow. It was a really fast read, I couldn't put it down. However I was kind of disappointed by the end. While almost all the characters were female, the entire plot really revolved around a particular guy and it was mostly pent up relationship drama. Felt more like a Pretty Little Liars style teen drama with thrilling aspects, rather than a legit thriller.

Dungeon Crawl this one doesn't count for anything, it was just something to tide me over while waiting for library books to be available. I'm kind of to the point in the challenge where none of the books I currently own fit into anything else, so relying on library to have stuff.

this puts me at 26/52, so half way through challenge. Woo!

also at 12/24 for read harder. also halfway, weird!

QOTW: I binge series all the time. I have trouble remembering what happens from book to book if I wait too long in between them. A lot of times I'll start a series and read it with months in between each book, and be confused. Then once I'm caught up to a series, later I'll go and do a proper binge and the story fits together much better.

I'm a really fast reader, so I can usually manage to do this around my reading challenge. Either as a break in between, if it's a short series, or once I finish up I'll take a break from new stuff and go on a big re-read series binge.

As far as reading everything by an author, it depends. I will certainly look up other stuff an author writes, if I like them. And I'll read the backs, and if I like them give them a chance based on liking the author's other stuff. However if a book doesn't sound interesting, I won't read it JUST because I usually like the author. Or I might read the first book, if it's an additional series, and tap out if I don't feel it. Even most my favorite authors have at least one series of books I just didn't care for. I didn't like Mercedes lackey's free bard series, I didnt' like Piers Anthony's adept series. Didn't like Anne McCaffery's crystal singers. so on.

A book with an unreliable narrator: We Were Liars
I didn't really care about what was going on or the characters.

A book with one of the four seasons in the title: The Summer I Turned Pretty
It's about time I read this book! I'm loving Jenny Han's books.

QOTW: I used to binge read series, but over time I spread out so I can read other books.
If I end up liking an author, I want to read anything they put out. Examples are John Green, Jeff Zentner, Jenny Han, Rainbow Rowell, Maggie Stiefvater, and Marissa Meyer

I finished four books this week, two were really good and others....not so much.
The Lightning Thief- I thought this books started slowly, I even started to DNF it. I persevered, and, after about 75 pages, I found it difficult to put down! Ended up enjoying this one very much, and if I hadn't struggled through the first part, I would have rated it 5 stars.
Wedded to War- I also enjoyed this book a great deal and rated it 4 stars. I had a few questions that went unanswered, otherwise I would have rated this 5 stars.
The Time Machine- Oh, My Goodness! I know this is a classic, and many, many people love it, but this was just a terrible book for me! I was so disturbed and depressed when I finished it!! H. G. Wells was a good writer-with his words he was able to pull me into the book, even when I would have most enjoyed NOT getting that deep into it. I wanted to read another classic this year, and I was determined to use this book for my book set in two different time periods, so I pushed myself to continue. At least it was short!
Copycat- I chose this book for my book written by a person of color. The author has written best sellers in the past, but this is clearly not one of her best works. I found it disappointing, but it did fulfill the prompt and I am completing the challenge in order to read a variety of genres and collections in my libraries, and also read more of our current books.

This is my first reading challenge and I am still undecided about the advanced list. I will definitely take a break after I complete the regular challenge, even if I decide to complete the advanced challenge. While I have enjoyed reading some of books, others have been a struggle.

QOTW: YES, I do enjoy reading an entire series at once-or at least with only a short period of time between them. That is one reason I want to take a break after the regular challenge. I want to read more of the series that I have begun in this challenge, such as Jefferson Bass' Bone Farm series, Louise Penny's books. I've also seen several books in the library that I have added because they look good but they don't work for a prompt.

Not any progress to report this week. I'm in such a reading slump. I am working on a couple books, both of them are re-reads though.

Gone with the Wind - One of my all time favorites. I recently got a good friend to tackle it, so we are reading through it at the same time. Always love me some Rhett and Scarlett.
Farmer Boy - I've been whittling away at this for over a month now. I'm sad to say this series doesn't really hold up for me like I thought it would. I thoroughly enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods, but Little House on the Prairie was a bit of a drag for me. I'm hoping this is just a product of said reading slump, because I'm pretty disappointed.

Still 10/52.

QOTW: I love binging series. I specifically try to only start series that are finished for this reason. I also like the details of the story to be fresh in my mind.

There are some authors I plan to read all their works: J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, and Nicholas Sparks. If I find an author I like, I will usually check out other books they have written and add the ones that pique my interest. If I love those, I most likely will venture out and read their entire collection, given it's something I'm interested in.

I am now up to 20 books done! I finished 3 books this week:

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas - a book with one of the four seasons in the title - 4 stars - one of my favorite authors. I love how she has moved from Regency romances to Victorian ones.

Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams - a book about food - 4 stars - a new author to me. Great new cozy series (at least to me) set in a BBQ restaurant in Memphis, TN. Love the ensemble cast.

Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid - a book with a subtitle - 4 stars - I've heard of this author, but have never read her books before. Most of the information in this book was not new to me as I am a huge fan of DiscoveryID. But the inclusion of cases from the UK and how the medicolegal professions handle things in the UK was very interesting. I bet McDermid would make an excellent true crime author.

Binge reading – do you binge read published books in a series or spread them out? What about an author’s collective works – do you feel compelled to read everything written by a favorite author?

I have been known to read several books in a series in a row. I also am known to go to great lengths to read all the books by one author. I generally will comb used bookstores or request books by interlibrary loan to get all the books.

Two authors for this are Margaret Atwood and John Wyndham. I am also one of those people who insist on reading series in order.

Hi everyone! This week I finished another 3 books so now I'm at 15/40:

1) The Book Thief - for a book written from a nonhuman perspective. I absolutely loved this novel! I do believe that the unique perspective of Death brought on an extra interesting layer to the novel.

2) A Room with a View - for a book set in a hotel. May be a bit of a stretch to include this for this prompt, as it does not all take place in a hotel really.

3) Eat, Pray, Love - for a book about travel. Meh, I wanted to like it, but her character was annoying for me most of the time! Just finished this today.

QOTW: I used to binge read series, but not so much ever since I started doing challenges. I have now grown accustomed to reading a wider range of novels and books which I would not have considered, so that's very good. At the same time, I always like a good series! So what's been happening is that I've been starting the first novel of a series but then stopping and perhaps continuing it at a later stage. This is working out for me as well. So yeah, I would say that I would rather pan out the series over a long period of time these days.

I am staying on track with finishing one book a week so far. Last week I finished Philida. I was originally going to slot it under "main character that's a different ethnicity" but I decided to fit the book I am currently reading into that category so I changed it to the interesting woman prompt. This makes me 13/52.

This week I am reading Fasting, Feasting. You might think upon first glance that this is about food but it is actually a comparison of the Indian cultures and American. It is okay. It is written with rich language but the plot hasn't offered anything much as of yet. Still, it's good enough to finish.

QOTW: I haven't binge read in a very long time, perhaps because it's been a while since I've read a series book. When I read At Home in Mitford earlier this year for the "first book in an unread series" prompt I was tempted to read the subsequent books but I was discouraged by the fact that none of them would fit the other prompts. If I am to finish this challenge, I don't necessarily have time to read extra book unfortunately.

Omg is it Thursday already!! I only finished the outsiders this week but my goal is 1/week so I'm good with that. I started the silkworm a few days ago so that'll likely be done this week. I also have a library book club pick that I'm hoping is less boring than the title suggests but I haven't looked at it yet because I'm finishing the silkworm first. It's called a spool of blue thread

I finished one book this week.

I read Annihilation for the book with an unreliable narrator prompt. From reading descriptions and blurbs I was afraid this would be too weird and disturbing for me but I was pleasantly surprised. It is creepy and there's a lot of strange unexplained things going on but I actually liked it. I think I will hunt down the rest of series so I can spend some more time poking around in Area X. Oh and another plus-it's only 200 pages.

QOTW- I don't really binge read series as it is rare that I find something I like enough to do so. I guess I'm a bit critical sometimes.
I think the only author I have read all their major works is Jane Austen.

I finished one book this week, The Trespasser which I read for a book with a red spine. I really enjoyed it - I've read all of Tana French's books (how fitting, given QOTW!) and I think she gets better with every book.

This leaves me at 11/40, which is slightly behind where I want to be, but I've just booked a vacation to New Orleans in May, so now I know when I can do some catching up! I'll also be looking out for some New Orleans related books that I can read when I'm there.

QOTW - I do have a tendency to binge read and in fact that's what prompted me to join this challenge. Towards the end of 2016 I was pretty much only reading Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's series, and with another 8 books to go in the series, I knew I needed something to jolt me out of only reading those and get back to reading more widely. It's definitely working and I'm really pleased with the impact the challenge is having on my reading, but I must say I am wondering when I'll have time to catch up on the next in that series! I'm also slightly concerned that when I start the 'first in a series' category I'm just going to want to carry on. I'm planning to read A Darker Shade of Magic and I don't know if I'll be able to stop there.

I don't usually feel the need to read everything by a particular author, but if I've really enjoyed their work it does influence whether I'll read their other books.

Haven't had a chance to read all the replies yet so I'll read them here after I post.

I finished two books this week:

A Conjuring of Light
and
Wonder Woman, Volume 1: The Lies

I just had a stack of library books come in so my priority is currently to finish those. I'm currently reading The Song Rising.

QOTW:
I love to binge read series if they've been out for awhile. If it's a new series I'll read them as they are released. For my favourite authors I will go back and read their backlist (from the beginning if I can).

olá, today here in Portugal it was a sunny day. this week I'm in time for check in. this week I started work in another department:formation, research and knowledge center.I read few but finishedEstorvo, a book from an author born in a country that I didn't visited yet, a book that I bought in a travel to Lisbon.
QOTW: I normally wait for the last volume to start reading a series, but when I like the first volumes I read it before the last one arrive, depends of my mood or the volume to read.

I'm currently reading Red Queen (Victoria Aveyard) and City of Bones (Cassandra Clare).

QOTW: Sometimes I binge read them and sometimes I spread them out; lately, they've been VERY far spread. I feel the need to read anything by Rick Riordan, Margaret Peterson Haddix, John Green, and Neal Shusterman. Frankly, I would read their grocery lists.

Hello everyone. I've read one book this week which brings me officially to the half way point; 26/52

My one book was A Darker Shade of Magic (for the book with a red spine) which I really, really enjoyed. I can't wait to read the sequels.

...which brings us to the QOTW: If a series is long, I try to space them apart so I don't get burned out. I am currently reading The Revenge of Seven and the others in the series and I have spaced them out quite a bit, although that is partly because I am having to wait for each one to come in from the library as well.

Whereas for shorter series, if I really enjoy them (and the library has them in) I will binge read them. I really want to read A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light but I don't know which prompts they would fit under. Any suggestions?

Sara I used A Conjuring of Light for the pseudonym prompt. I don't know if that helps or not

Thanks to a couple of short reads, I finished three books this week bring me to 24/52.

1. Book recommended by a librarian – The Glass Castle
4. Audiobook – Scrappy Little Nobody
50. Book mentioned in another book - Macbeth

QOTW: I occasionally binge through a series. I listened through the audiobook versions of the Hunger Games and Harry Potter that way. This year I binged The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett because my library holds came up back to back to back. In that last case, I wish I had spaced them out a bit more because I was pretty burned out by the last book.

The only author’s catalogue I’ve purposefully tried to read to completion would be Wally Lamb’s. I stumbled upon She's Come Undone when I was 14 and I related to his protagonist in a lot of ways; at the time I was unhappy with everything. It’s a tough age for girls period and, like Delores, I was overweight and full of angst. Thankfully, unlike her, I had a wonderfully supportive family but we had just been uprooted and moved half way across the country from Maryland to North Dakota. I thought my life was over. I read the novel while on a family vacation in Yellowstone about a year after our move. Thanks to the book (and probably a little help from Mother Nature) I came back restored: ready to get over myself, to stop moping and try to enjoy what remained of high school. It marked a turning point for me and the rest of my time living in ND was actually quite happy. Every few years I reread the book and it still resonates with me. Lamb’s other novels haven’t touched me in quite the same way but I have enjoyed them and I keep hoping he’ll catch lighting in a bottle a second time.

WE HAVE A REAL HONEST-TO-GOD THUNDERSTORM IN NYC!!!

You don't understand how rare these are here until you've spent about half your life living in the midwest/Texas/west of the Appalachians and come to REALLY love thunderstorms and then bam! No more thunderstorms because you moved to NYC where a "downpour" is just kind of raining in your book.

/rant

I only finished one book this week, and that was Thirteen Reasons Why and I have no current plans to use it for this challenge. I did 100% quit the audiobook thing, though, so I'm reading Rook as a normal book and then counting it as a book I tried to listen to as an audiobook because I have no intentions of bothering with audiobooks again.

QOTW: I binge-read some series and get distracted with others. It just depends. Harry Potter I can perpetually binge-read.

Hi everyone!

I finished two books this week, bringing me to 34/52.
The first was Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943, a book set during wartime. It was both intriguing and sad, and I loved it. After that, I was all set to jump into my unreliable narrator novel, but had a couple holds come available unexpectedly from the library. So instead, I read Friday the Rabbi Slept Late for my book with a month or day of the week in the title. It was an easy, quick read, and it was so cute - I loved the premise - that I wish I could've loved it, but I just didn't for some reason. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

Now I'm starting Orphan Train for two time periods. I also finally decided to DNF my subtitle book, Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary. After only getting 1/4 of the way through in 3-4 weeks and feeling like I was reading a history textbook, I decided to quit. Instead, I switched to Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux for this prompt, which I'm now really enjoying.

QOTW: Sometimes I'll binge read certain series, if the first book is really gripping. I binge read all the Scarpetta novels, Harry Potter, and the Soulkeepers series, to name a few. But it has to be a particularly engrossing series for me to get that involved. Otherwise, if I just happen to like the first book in a series, I'll usually shelve the rest as "series to finish reading later" and will work on it sporadically.

Yes, I do often feel compelled to read everything by a favorite author. I haven't read anything by Neil Gaiman that I've disliked, nor Emma Donoghue or Jeanette Winterson. I believe I tried to read everything Stephen King and Dean Koontz wrote as well when I first discovered them.

This week I read Heartburn, which fulfills the "book about food" prompt.

I also made the commitment to the advanced challenge list, because I read A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope. I couldn't make it fit a normal challenge prompt, so I added it to the advanced challenge. It fits the "book about a difficult topic" prompt.

QOTW: I do tend to be a binge reader....It depends on when a series has come out. If it is out already, I will read them all back to back. As for authors, I will read anything Jodi Picoult or John Green writes. I also find myself drawn back to certain authors.

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update, I'm sorry about it, but I didn't read much for the challenge, just reread a bunch of comics. I was busy writing.
The only book that can fit one of the prompt would be the Marvel novel Tomorrow Men that I buyed already used. This would also be the first book I've read for the Advanced Challenged.

This week I've read A Street Cat Named Bob, the book with a cat on the cover. It's really sweet and funny, so much that I decided to buy a copy for my niece.

Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the term "binge reading", I'm assuming it means reading all the books of a series in one go? If that's so, I don't do it as a rule, now more then ever since I'm doing the challenge. But sometimes if I absolutly loved the first book in a series, I can't stop at just one or two. I just need to know what happens next. Same with authors I love: I don't make a rule of reading all the books they wrote, but I tend to be really curious about their other works if I like their style.

My reading was a bit erratic this week. I managed to fill one prompt and am at 14/3 of 52.

Question of the week:

Binge reading – do you binge read published books in a series or spread them out? What about an author’s collective works – do you feel compelled to read everything written by a favorite author?

When I find an author that I like, I tend to read everything they've written that I can get my hands on. Sadly, this often means I read an entire series up to the latest book and then go crazy waiting for the next one. Or get frustrated when my library only has every other book in a series & I have to try to get the rest on interlibrary loan. (I'm trying to cut down on buying books, but in some cases will do it anyway)

Sometimes I burn out on an author, or their style changes to where I no longer like their books (ahem, Laurell K Hamilton) or they begin to feel stale. (Sadly, Janet Evanovich is veering into this category) Then there are writers like Charles DeLint & Neil Gaiman who could publish their grocery lists and I'd be fascinated.

Then there are the British mystery authors I've been reading on my Kindle. I don't know why I'm so fascinated by the idea of that many serial killers in certain areas, but they captivate me & I find myself bingeing on them. (Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, et al) Luckily they're not horribly expensive to buy! Just don't ask me to add up what I've spent over the last year. ;-)

Mickey wrote: "Sometimes I burn out on an author, or their style changes to where I no longer like their books (ahem, Laurell K Hamilton) or they begin to feel stale. "

So I'm not the only one who feels that way about Laurell K Hamilton, good to know. She went from a "run out and buy all her books" author to "...eh. if my library has it. maybe. eventually".