Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2017 Weekly checkins
>
Week 39: 9/22 – 9/28
Bonjour,Today the weather feels finally like autumn. We are around 55°F, but we had been around 95 degree for a whole week. Not comfortable when you have to work without air conditioning, with a lab coat.
Last week I finished Habibi for a book with the main character who is a different ethnicity than me. I didn't like this book. I gave it 2 stars ONLY because the graphics were superbs.
I am almost done now with 3 prompts to go since I am not doing the advance challenge.
Now reading Revelation Space for fun. Like the other one that I read from Reynolds, it's very good but not a fast read. I need to find words in the dictionnary every 5 pages and it makes me realize that I need to practice my english more often.
QOTW: This is a hard one for me too. I remember laughing at Emma's father in Emma. Mindy Kaling made me laugh too when I read Why Not Me?. Another one would be Un loup est un loup.
No prompts ticked off this week. I need to rearrange my TBR shelf to get to the handful of prompts I have left. It was a much better reading week than last week though.A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain. FBI agent who gets sucked through a wormhole to 1815 England. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one but I’ll continue the series.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. It would work as a subtitle but I’ve already ticked that off. Non-fiction about the Osage in Oklahoma and a conspiracy to murder a number of them for reasons. I don’t want to give too much away but I really, really enjoyed this book. In fact, I used it as a reward to get through grading rough drafts-for every 5 I read and commented on, I got to read two chapters.
Tell Me Three Thingsby Julie Buxbaum. This is a YA where they meet online first. It was much more delightful than the one I read last week.
And
The Dinner by Herman Koch. I did not like this book. Upper-middle class/rich people behaving badly. I don’t read reviews until I finish the book and I saw a lot that referenced Gone, Girl. I have yet to read a book that is the “next Gone Girl” or the “next Girl on the Train” that is good. Although, if it were told from Claire’s perspective maybe it would have been better. She made some choices in this book. I was considering using this one for the book about food but I don’t think it’s a great fit.
QOTW:
I don’t think I’ve ever read a genuinely laugh out loud books. A lot of romance novels that I’ve read have been absolutely delightful but not truly funny.
Hello everyone! It's been hot and muggy here, but still looks like fall. Very confusing lol I finished 2 books this week, the woman in cabin 10 for a book set in a hotel and the invisible library for steampunk. I'm at 39/50 for my personal goal but 2 didn't fit prompts. I really don't know if I'm going to finish but I think I'll still try to finish after the new year but allow myself to double up prompts with next years list if I can. 2 young kids and a husband who works away just doesn't give me the sustained reading time I need to get through 1-2 books per week. I know people do it with more things on their plates but I'm not competing with them lol
I started the hate u give which is going to be a tough read (mentally. It's good and I'm not going to struggle to get into it)
I think I've done 39/50 for my kid's children's lit challenge and I have a whole slew of books on hold and in transit that I'm waiting on for it!
QOTW
I do like comedian books and Jim gaffigans dad is fat made me laugh out loud a couple times but I'm more like Sara where a witty comeback or wry throwaway comment is more likely to make me chuckle.
I did a little bit of reading this week. Now is going to get harder and harder to read since Fall TV has started and that cuts in to my reading time (This is Us, anyone?) Finished Heartless. Even though I read it verrrry slowly I did enjoy it.
I'm about 60% through The Dream Thieves. I checked out the entire Raven Cycle series so I want to get that finished up and then I can move on to the other challenge books. In addition to reading it, I listened to a chunk of this book on my walk last night - I like the narrator.
So I'm at 35/40 and 10/12.
QOTW I love any Sophie Kinsella book. My favorite being I've Got Your Number. I remember reading it on a vacation with my friends and laughing and they kept asking "what is so funny."
Hi all! After an extremely sweltering weekend and early week, Michigan has decided it's fall after all.
I was at Cedar Point all weekend, so didn't have tons of reading time. Still managed to finish some stuff up.
Finished:
The Death of Bunny Munro - This was such a weird book. I love Nick Cave, but I think I'll stick tWe Are Legion - We Are Bobo his music. I don't think I've ever felt so completely repelled by a character before, yet I couldn't put it down. I don't know if I can say I ENJOYED it, but I suppose I'm glad I read it.
Chimes at Midnight - I love October Daye books, this was another in the series.
We Are Legion - We Are Bob - Friend recommended this to me. I didn't really know what to expect, but I loved this! It was hard sci-fi, but the main character was a huge geek so it really kept the tone light and readable, even when the subject matter got heavy.
once I finished up that last book, i knocked out some of my comics reading queue to free up space on my ipad.
Sherlock: A Study in Pink - this was ok, but it was basically a line by line retelling of the show episode. No new takes or anything.
Sherlock: The Blind Banker - Same as the previous
Rose, Vol. 1 - read this as issues but wrapped up the first arc last night.
Flashpoint Deluxe Edition (2011-) #1 - this was ok, friend had been bugging me to read it a while, not entirely sure why.
Edge of Venomverse - this was fun. It's a spinoff series, mostly as an excuse to see what symbiot versions of various marvel characters would do.
Currently reading: Might whip through a few more comics to clear out more space, but then I'll probably start Dark Matter since it just came in digitally from the library.
QOTW:
I really like Christopher Moore books, they're generally pretty funny. Particularly Bloodsucking Fiends which I think is one of my favorites by him, probably because it was the first. A funny take on a vampire romance. Terry Pratchett puts a lot of humor into his discworld books, especially in the footnotes. For comics, Gwenpool and Rat Queens regularly make me laugh.
Good morning, fellow readers! It has been fall for real this week, and I'm loving it! Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, cloudy & rainy, it's just lovely! It's also good reading weather, although I do have a full time job & a family, so I haven't been able to get too much extra reading done. I was able to finish a couple books this week, though, so that's helpful! It seems weird that I'm finished with the challenge, so I'm not going back to see which prompt I'm on or making sure that the books I read fit in a certain slot. It's kind of freeing, though.Finished
Rescued: What Second-Chance Dogs Teach Us about Living with Purpose, Loving with Abandon, and Finding Joy in the Little Things by Peter Zheutlin on my Kindle. I received it as an ARC, and it was okay. The formatting of the electronic copy I received was pretty terrible & the author was quite repetitive at times, so I ended up skimming sometimes. The individual stories of the rescue dogs were great, but the author must have had a word goal, so there was a lot of fluff and extra stuff just added in & repeated to lengthen the book.
The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz. I actually finished this book last Thursday after check-in. It was the first in a series, and I had received an ARC for the second in the series, so I figured I'd better get it read so I could move on to the ARC. It was pretty good. Very suspenseful, and with some outrageous claims that may in fact some day be a scary reality.
The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz. I started this book last Friday, and like the above ARC I read, it was a digital version on my Kindle. It was formatted just fine, though, so I didn't have any problem breezing through it. It was just as good as the first book in the series, with a lot of the same suspense, but the specific goals and objectives of the main character changed enough (although the main objective remained the same) throughout the second book that it didn't feel like it was just a rehash of the first. The problem is, there is definitely going to have to be at least one more book to wrap things up, and since this was an ARC (it's not being released until the second half of November!), I don't have any idea how long I'll have to wait for the third book in the series. I would really like to know what happens next!
Currently Reading
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. My son & I are about halfway through this one, so we may or may not be finished by check-in next week. It will probably depend on how much reading we get done over the weekend. If it keeps raining, and flag football practice & games get cancelled, we can probably get a lot of extra reading in! :) Not that I'm hoping for that or anything... hahaha!
I'm getting ready to start a couple new books that I just got from the library this week that I'm going to use to try to work on another challenge. I'm doing the A-Z challenge, just trying to read a book that starts with every letter of the alphabet. Somehow, I managed to read 52 books for the Popsugar challenge but still haven't read books that start with eight letters of the alphabet. I still have A, E, J, Q, V, X, Y, and Z. So, I grabbed As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark and Evergreen Fallsby Kimberley Freeman to start working on the rest of the letters. I have read MHC many times, and I'm sure that book will be a quick read. I don't think I've ever read anything by Ms. Freeman, but it looks like a good historical fiction with a little mystery involved as well, so I'm looking forward to it.
QOTW
I have no idea what the funniest book I've ever read was, and I have a feeling it would change depending on the time of life I was in when I read the book. The two books that I've read most recently that I laughed out loud at were Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker and Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham. I read the Jen Hatmaker book and definitely laughed out loud at it, but I listened to the audio version of Lauren Graham's book, and that was hilarious! It is fun to listen to the author come to life and you can hear the intonations that she wanted to come across in her writing and stuff like that.
Mod
Nadine wrote: "Oh Megan! I listened to the entire Raven Boys series SOLELY because I love listening to Will Patton read to me!! I now plan to listen to every audiobook he's done that I can get in Overdrive. (Frus..."He makes it so easy to differentiate between the four boys!
I finished a book- Meet Rebecca- it has been on my TBR for a long time and I had to do some rearranging of the challenge to make sure it all worksI have so many books in different stages of reading: more than half way done with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2, half way done with The Door by the Staircase, 70 percent done with Love in the Ruins, and only a handful of pages left in The Invisible Library. It is keeping me hopeful as I am not sure I am going to make it to the end.
I am at 30/40 and 1/12.
QOTW: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, PG Wodehouse, Jim Gaffigan, and a couple of Dave Barry books are laugh out loud funny in our house.
Megan wrote: "Fall TV has started and that cuts in to my reading time (This is Us, anyone?) ..."I haven't watched the first episode yet, but I hopefully will this weekend! Great show!
Mod
A Test of Wills by Charles Todd - one of my goals (after falling in love with Rowling's Cormoran Strike and Tara French's Frank Mackey, and being impressed by Harry Hole) is to "investigate" some new detective mysteries. This was one recommended to me. It was good, and I'll definitely read more in the series, I'm hopeful it gets better as the authors get in a groove. This book would fulfill the "multiple authors" category.
QOTW my sense of humor seems to be a little off kilter from most of the world, I often find myself the only one laughing in the movie theater* and I frequently find comedians to be dull. I do sometimes laugh out loud when reading or listening to a book. The last four out of five books that made me laugh out loud were audiobooks , so maybe I'm more likely to laugh based on tone rather than just words.
Although I usually don't like comedian books, I did laugh once or twice at Anna Kendrick, and the other four on my list have been described as "funny" by other reviewers. So I'm not completely off:
- Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
- Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben, the first Myron Bolitar book, a mystery series w a sports agent detective and sports-related mysteries (I hate sports, so don't let that stop you!)
- You by Caroline Kepnes - completely dark humor, the protagonist is a serial killer
- Tampa - even darker humor! The protagonist is a pedophile (well, technically she's a hebephile).
- Kraken by China Miéville - audiobook that I'm currently listening to, a fantasy/mystery/horror set in London, centered around a deep sea squid stolen from a natural history museum, this book is batshitcrazy.
Looking at that list, those are some really dark humor books! I didn't realize I liked dark humor so much. I promise I'm not a sociopath.
*speaking of being the only one in the theater laughing, just last week I saw this short at the theaters, it was shown before Miyazaki's Nausicaa. I laughed so hard I seriously started to worry about choking. My kids were laughing AT ME, not at the short:
The Centrifuge Brain Project
Hello from Germany!I finally finished the first Thursday Next Book Der Fall Jane Eyre. It took me almost a month to listen to it. I didn't use it for a prompt, but had wanted to use it for unknown genre. In the meantime I ticked that off with another book.
I was majorly confused for most of the first half of the book, but intrigued and captivated for most of the second half of it. So I liked it in the end and might even read or listen to more from the same series. Once I accepted that it is normal to be confused, it was just fun.
I also finished Couchsurfing in Russland: Wie ich fast zum Putin-Versteher wurde a great book and one that fits the QOTW, too , as it made me laugh out loud. The author describes his experiences as a cousurfer (a person who stays at people's houses for free while traveling) in Russia and made me have a lot of fun and understand Russia a lot better while enjoying the read.
I am using this book for the book I bought on a trip prompt :-)
I only have 3 left, but might try to shift some around to finish more easily.
Currently reading:
Ostende - 1936, Sommer der Freundschaft
Agatha Raisin und die tote Hexe: Kriminalroman
both gifts I got for my birthday, both not to be used for prompts (no ideas for them, yet, even though Agatha Raisin could be used for the hotel prompt, but I already have that one...)
I enjoy both of them, though I have to admit, it is so much easier to read the Agatha Raisin novel...
QOTW:
see above (Couchsurfing in Russia)
I don't read enough funny books!
I noticed I generally read more books with a serious topic/background and/or crime and detective novels and should read more lighter stuff, maybe.
I find that I laugh most at German books, especially those read by funny people as audio books:
SommerfestRadio Heimat. Geschichten von zuhauseFörster, mein Förster
I also thought A Man Called Ove had very funny, laugh-out-loud episodes (even though it was tragic, too)
Hi all! Dealing with a cold this week, so I actually took a sick day and got some reading done. Finished:
- What Happened -- fulfilled the prompt of a book about an interesting woman. I found it to be pretty cathartic and my respect and admiration for HRC has only grown. She throws so much shade too, and it's really interesting to see this other side of her.
- The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir -- fulfilled the prompt of a book with multiple authors. Written by the four adult children of the actress Ann Williams and chronicles their lives in the 80s after losing both of their parents. A really interesting read, being able to see the different perspectives of the four kids of the same events was fascinating. I enjoyed the book a lot, and the ending is uplifting, though the majority of the book itself isn't.
So now, I'm at 21/40 for the regular prompt, 6/12 for the advanced prompt, for a total of 27/52 .
Currently Reading:
- Pieces of My Sister's Life -- fulfilling the prompt of a book with a family-member term in the title. Got this on the kindle app as a deal (for $1.99 or so), and while the description was appealing, I am not really enjoying the book too much so far. I haven't found any of the characters particularly likable, so I think that's the biggest issue I'm having with the book so far.
QOTW: I definitely have laughed-out-loud while reading several books, especially when the characters have a particularly witty comeback or line. I also laughed a lot while reading Mindy Kaling's two books, Why Not Me? and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance, and Scaachi Koul's One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter.
Greetings from Cleveland! We flipped back to fall after a week of super hot weather. It was glorious to wake up this morning and actually feel a little chilly.I read Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa for a book about an interesting woman. Dian Fossey was basically the Jane Goodall for mountain gorillas but was murdered at her research camp. This book made me sort of uncomfortable because I felt like the author (who never met her) was basically mansplaining how she felt and included lots of very private details that I don't know if any family or close friends approved before publication. Just because she kept diaries, I don't think that meant she'd be automatically fine with all of the content made public! I was often confused because the "what" was extensively detailed, but not the "why" or the "how." I was also surprise the murder wasn't mentioned until the last chapter, and I learned more from subsequently reading the Wikipedia page than from the book. I think this book also suffers from age because racial tensions between the Hutus and the Tutsis were dealt with in a very blase way, which was really hard to read knowing the Rwandan genocide would happen in another few years. I would love to read a modern, more balanced account focusing on the facility and the gorillas.
QOTW: I really like sarcasm, and I love when nonfiction writers can work in some witty commentary. Two humor books I really liked were Adulthood Is a Myth and Hark! A Vagrant.
Nicole wrote: "just trying to read a book that starts with every letter of the alphabet. Somehow, I managed to read 52 books for the Popsugar challenge but still haven't read books that start with eight letters of the alphabet. I still have A, E, J, Q, V, X, Y, and Z"I was curious how many letters I had left and was surprised to see I only need G, K, Q, X, Z. That was fun to look!
The weather has finally cooled down, yay!! Finally starting to feel like fall around here. Just in time for me to leave for San Diego!This week I finished...
The Hate U Give : I LOVED this book and would highly suggest it to anyone with the warning that there is a lot of harsh language. I think it adds to the book rather than taking away but should still be noted. Fulfills many prompts but I went with: A book that was published in 2017.
Manga Classics: Jane Eyre: I never read Jane Eyre and Manga books are very popular at the library where I work. When I saw that this was one of our new books I decided to give it a try. I found that after a while the reading style wasn't quite so bad. I did find myself mostly reading the dialogue and not spending much time looking at the graphics. I really liked the story line and am contemplating reading Jane Eyre. Prompt filled: A book with a title that's a characters name.
This week I started...
Safekeeping - recommended by our head librarian. I do not have it slated for any prompts but will decide once I finish.
The Handmaid's Tale - still working on this one. Haven't decided on a prompt yet. Possibly: A book about a difficult topic?
Lord of the Flies - I'm not sure yet if this will fill a prompt. I had never read it and figured I should probably start reading more classics or "assigned" readings.
Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen - I'm finding it a little difficult to get through some of these; I've actually skipped quite a few. I keep looking for hidden meanings or lessons but I'm not finding anything. I feel like they're mostly just weird little stories. Not sure of a prompt.
The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover's Companion - this was a new book we just received in the library and the puppy was so cute on the cover I had to start reading it...I wish I hadn't! Now I want a puppy so much but I have to wait so long before I can actually take care of one! No prompt.
I have read many books that have made me laugh out loud! Mostly books by Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, Sophie Kinsella, and Jenny Lawson.
Good morning, everybody! Finished
I focused on finishing books for Around-the-Year's Read-a-Thon last week and knocked 3 book off my TBR list! I'm now at 39/52 books for that challenge.
- Getting Mother's Body - Really great writing in this one, which I used for the prompt of "a novel inspired by a work of classic literature" (it rewrites As I Lay Dying with a black female protagonist in Civil Rights-era Texas).
- The Wrath and the Dawn - A fantastic start that ultimately became way too extra for me. Used it for the prompt of "a book based on a myth."
- A Wrinkle in Time - I enjoyed this, but I wish I'd known in advance that it was such a religious book; I found that very jarring. I'm still excited for the movie, though! This checked off the prompt of "a book from GoodReads Top 100 YA Books."
In Progress
- The Dinner - I'm really enjoying this so far! The writing is great, and I love the way the author is playing with time-shifts. It's such a fast read.
QOTW
I do laugh out loud at books! I cackled a lot at some of the usual subjects (Bossypants, for instance), but I'm also not a huge reader of funny books.
Megan wrote: "Nicole wrote: "just trying to read a book that starts with every letter of the alphabet. Somehow, I managed to read 52 books for the Popsugar challenge but still haven't read books that start with ..."I decided to look too and I am missing f, k, n, p, q, t, u, v, x, y. Interesting! Maybe my goal next year will be to consciously read through the entire alphabet! Note - if a book started with "A" or "The" I counted the first letter of the next word, that helped a lot!
interesting! I compared my read so far this year list to the alphabet, i'm only missing E, O, X, Y. Considering I wasn't making a point of that, it's pretty neat!
Mod
What is the strategy for the more unusual letters? Do you bend the rules so that the letter doesn't have to be the FIRST letter of the title? I read The Legends of Zita, would that count for Z?
Greetings from a cold Denmark. It says around 13C/55F however it is windy and it is a cold wind, so there is a chill-factor. I am currently reading
Assassin's Creed: Renaissance Havent played the game or watched the movie. Didn't now what to expect or if it was even for me. Turns out I love the book and can't wait to start the next one. I have about 2 hours left on the audiobook. He is quite good with the voices.
Dracula Actually started this a long time ago and don't know why I put it aside. I liked it but sometimes it's just not what you're in the mood for. Will finish it at some point.
Halfway to the Grave Im about 77% and to be honest I don't get why this was recommended to me. Well I will finish it, but don't think I will continue the series.
QOTW: I loved and laughed out loud several times at Playing James I think its been 3-4 years since I read it. When I read the QOTW this was the first that sprang to mind, so it must have left an impression on me. Besides that as mentioned earlier I've Got Your Number was great aswell. Books I read recently Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows and A Dirty Job The one by Christopher Moore was also because the whole story was a complete surprise as it was my first time reading anything of his.
Hello from a still to freaking hot Columbus. Send help, we are melting. I'm so close to being done with the entire reading challenge. The last book I'll have is like 800 pages so I bet that'll take me right through to the end of the year. This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It could work for the unreliable narrator prompt. It's the sequel to John Dies at the End which I've already read for that same prompt. I just really wanted to read it. It was still really funny, but a lot heavier than the first book. I like it though, and I can't wait to read the next book when it comes out.
Emma in the Night could work for a lot of prompts but nothing I haven't already read a book for. This was my book of the month pick for September. I'm pretty indifferent, it wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad. It kept me guessing until the end and I was invested in finding out what happened. The author also did a pretty good job depicting a character with a personality disorder, which as a psych major that's something I tend to notice a lot of books get wrong.
Norse Mythology was my book based on mythology pick. I looooove Gaiman, and I love Norse mythology, and any book he writes is 20x better with the audiobook version because he usually narrates them. I really enjoyed his depiction of Loki, and I liked the stories he picked out. Vikings is one of my favorite shows, so much so that when I had my son I specifically looked for Scandinavian names so I could have a viking baby without the cringe-worthy effect of naming my kid Ragnar and pretending like I didn't name my kid after a popular tv show (sorry if anyone here named their son Ragnar and insists they didn't name him after Travis Fimmel 🙊). Anywho. I liked this book and I recommend everyone read it.
A Study in Scarlet was my book mentioned in another book pick. A Study in Charlotte obviously mentions the original stories. It's funny how familiar I am with the stories despite never having actually read them. Sherlock (Benedict 😍) is another show I love, along with other Sherlock-based shows and movies. But it was nice to finally get to the source material. I downloaded the Sherlock collection narrated by Stephen Fry (also 😍), it's 64 hours long. I may never finish it all lol.
So that brings me to 39/40; 10/12 with 70 books read this year.
QOTW: off the top of my head, John Dies at the End made me laugh out loud several times, mostly because the fart jokes would make my daughter laugh. Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens made me laugh a lot too, Izzard is just exactly my brand of humor. Anthony Bourdain and Jim Gaffigan's books make me laugh, and I can think of a ton of other books that had little quips that made me laugh but they were necessarily funny books over all.
I'm bias because I love piers Anthony books but one in his Xanth series is called Xone of Contention.They are fantasy, silly, punny and totally terrible lol they are my guilty pleasure but usually really quick easy reads.
Nicole wrote: "just trying to read a book that starts with every letter of the alphabet. Somehow, I managed to read 52 books for the Popsugar challenge but still haven't read books that start with ..."Fun! I have the following letters left: F, G, I, J, O, Q, U, X, Y, Z so I have a ways to go!
I've read quite a few books that start with the letter S :)
It's been pleasantly cool here in Denver, but I hope for a little more sun over the weekend so we can go and do fall things outside. Last weekend we had a ton of fun possibilities but most were too hard to take littles to with all the rain and chill. I've had a good reading week. I read Legend, part of my refocus on getting a few more 1001 books read this year. I really liked it, which was surprising since I'm not hugely into high fantasy and I'm usually bored by battle scenes. Then I read the end of the The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, which had expired with about an hour to go three weeks ago and I had to wait until my hold came due again. It was okay - more interesting on concept, perhaps, than in fact but it's a new way to look at romances developing. As with all multiple author books, some were fantastic and others fell flat. Worth a read, though maybe an essay here and there rather than straight through.
I got one category ticked off this week as well, reading First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers and it was an emotionally difficult book to read. The writing itself isn't great but the impact of her story is devastating. I've been to Cambodia and I remember how hard it was to wrap my mind around the recentness of the events - they all happened just before and after I was born, so had I been Cambodian it would have been my reality. I actually bought the book in Hanoi, Vietnam but didn't get around to reading it on that trip but I think that was for the best because reading it as a mother gave it a different heaviness as well.
I haven't started anything yet - I finished that last one off in a race against the due date - Wednesday the girls have swimming and story time at the library and I think I finally finished with only hours before it expired and since there is now a Netflix movie based on it, the hold line is pretty long so I really wanted to get it done!
QOTW: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things and everything Jenny Lawson writes definitely crack me up. The part on motherhood in Tina Fey's book. Terry Pritchett occasionally, though I'm usually more amused than actually laughing. Saga and Nimona both had some good lines. I've read a lot of books by comedians this year and while they've generally been interesting, they've not been as funny as I anticipated.
Ooooo, I checked mine and I am only missing E, Q, X and Y. I knew I read that Zombie book for a reason! Now I want to finish it. Any recommendations for X?
Mod
I found Sue Grafton's book, "X" (I still need to read "W is for Wasted" though - I like to read them in order), and Cherie Priest's "I Am Princess X" which works only if X doesn't have to be the first letter.
Hi everyone. All the leaves are finally changing colour here. I love stomping through them on my way to work.I'm still reading The Bear and the Nightingale. I somehow thought it was last month's group pick but it's actually next month's so I'm ahead for a change!
QOTW: I don't laugh out loud very often to books. Some of The Lies of Locke Lamora made me giggle and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is hilarious.
Hey people,Still hot and muggy in South Central Texas; less hot and more muggy though!
Two books read for the challenge this week, both form Austin Public Libraries System second-hand book...
✅15. A book with a subtitle: Lilly Koppel, The Astronaut Wives Club , Grand Central, 2013.
Subtitled "A True Story". Probably true; not mich of a story.... Author interviewed all the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo Astronauts' wives she could find; hacked a book out of that material. Arranged in chronological order; not much questioning or interesting perspective... Basically, US Government wanted the astronauts wives to be the perfectly bland American housewives, which they tried as hard as they could to be. Questionning why that was so important that the astronauts illustrate the "Fordian" lifestyle (Mom minds the kid, dad drives off to work - in jet fighters, in that case) is completely beyond that book reach; that IS an interesting question though. Especially since it was a relatively new model at that time; before that you were either an a member of the leisure class and nobody worked, or poor stiffs and everybody in the family that could work, worked. But questioning this would require insights that are quite out of reach of the author...
Anyway, that was quite a bland book, poorly written and poorly edited. A little more work and a little more brains would have helped.
✅9. An espionage thriller: John le Carré, Our Kind of Traitor , Viking, 2010.
Probably not the best from le Carré, but still an enjoying read, set in the post-cold war incertain world of an intelligence establishment unsure of its purpose. The slow unravelling that is the second part of the book is quite well done, even though the writer appears somewhat disengaged from his story.
That puts me at 30/40 for the regular challenge and 10/12 for the advanced one. Back in the rythm!
QOTW: Good question! In recent months I've laughed quite a lot reading Le Braconnier de Dieu by René Fallet... In the past years, I laughed a lot reading Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need, and also (in a very different register) George Mike's How to Be a Brit.
I didn't finish any book for prompts this week, but I did find a few at the library that I'll be able to use for prompts this coming week. I did finish up some other monthly challenges that I took on for September, and discovered a few great books in the process.Books finished this week:
Secret Prey by John Sandford - when I first started reading the Lucas Davenport series, I wasn't really into it, but after the second or third book in the series, I found that I understood the character's background enough to really appreciate the stories. This is the 9th book in the series, which fit a challenge I was working on.
The Wrong Dead Guy by Richard Kadrey - I needed to read a sci-fi novel and I was specifically looking for some words in a scavenger hunt, so I tried out this series by Richard Kadrey. It was ok, not anything I feel the need to continue with - it's possible this says more about my tolerance for sci-fi than it does about the book.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - this was a reread for me, but I think this book is absolutely amazing. It's so subtle and low key, the perfect character portrait.
The Return of the Ragpicker by Og Mandino - this was another reread for me, but I really needed the faith pick-me-up that it offers. It's not long, but it's powerful.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - this is such a beautiful novel about a few missionaries who are sent to New Mexico in the 1800's. Cather's descriptions of peoples and places and circumstances is breathtaking, but ultimately the focus is on Father Latour and his journey of faith.
Next up, I'm listening to The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel. I love all the earlier books in the series, so I was happy to choose this for my audiobook prompt. This is my first time trying out the Playaway technology.
QOTW: The books most likely to make me laugh out loud are the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. I remember the first time I read One for the Money I was in a waiting room, and I figured everyone would probably think I was crazy, but those characters just crack me up.
Hi all,We are having a gorgeous day in Vancouver, but I think that will be our last touch of summer! Rain predicted for Friday...
I'm at 34/40 and 2/12.
Just finished Brokeback Mountain, and I read this for my book, that has been TBR for way too long. I've wanted to read this since the movie came out!! First, Annie Proulx is a master. Stunning writing, and it sticks with you. Second, this is a short story, but she has jam-packed this book. Every single word matters - and it's all about quality here. BEAUTIFUL.
I've just started The Accusation. This is a book of short stories. Published earlier in 2017, but super interesting - it is a work of fiction (don't think we've seen any) to come out of North Korea. I'm enjoying it so far.... extremely interesting. Not reading for a prompt, just for my interest.
QOTW: I love humor! However, I don't often laugh out loud. Here are a few of my favourites:
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris is a master of humor
Dear American Airlines - a situation with American Airlines. Such a great read, so many funny moments.
Yes Please - loved this, Amy Poehler, she's just funny
The Rosie Project - truly, these are just fun. I also enjoyed the sequel too. Like a romance told by Sheldon Cooper.
For the letter X, I saw that the third book in the Ender's Game series is called Xenocide. So, if you've read the first two books, or just feel like getting into a new series, that could work. I think I'm going to read The Xibalba Murders for mine, because I have it on my Kindle already. There's also Xena: Warrior Princess and a few others in that series that start with the name Xena.As for the letter Q, there are lots more than I would have thought, but there are a few common words that start with Q such as Quiet, Quick, and Queen among others. I also thought of Quidditch Through the Ages, which would be a short read.
Good afternoon! Busy week at work and I haven't felt like reading too much in the evening so it's my commute and that's it. I do really need to buckle down on the challenge items again... I will not fail this year!!Finished: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. This book was lovely and restored my faith in my ability to enjoy a book with older protagonists. I read a couple this summer where I just HATED all the characters (and I don't think I was supposed to).
The Children Act. This was for book club and a very quick read but kind of messed me up, lol. It got really dark and ended on a melancholy note.
Which lead me to my currently reading: Sense and Sensibility. Hello, old friend. I love this book. That is all.
QOTW: I have definitely chortled aloud at Jane Austen, usually when someone says something particularly cutting.
Hi all. I'm just denying that it's 90+ degrees out and pretending it's really Fall. Luckily the a/c at work is cranked so I get to cuddle under warm knitwear.Finished:
Meddling Kids!!! I loved this. It was funny and original, totally meta, and yet had a substantial emotional core. I love Cantero's way with language. Highly recommended to anyone who has watched some Scooby-Doo, likes weird fiction, and isn't afraid of some textual silliness.
Started:
Warcross is YA and feels it - slightly fluffy and confectionary, but in a good way. And they just dropped a reference to a famous geek/gamer YouTube incident which made me stop and laugh. Gotta love something that mashes up Cinderella with Ready Player One and has a good sense of humor!
QOTW:
Well, my two cited books there have made me laugh - Meddling Kids consistently throughout.
Big Trouble made me laugh hysterically, and I agree that Christopher Moore is a winner. Also of course The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
Oh and yes - LISTEN TO ALL THE WILL PATTON!(Which in turn reminds me that Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened makes me laugh like a loon!)
Hello, friends! This is my first autumn in San Francisco, and it means less fog and warmer weather (summers are cool). Crazy! I like it here, but I miss the gorgeous midwestern autumns I'm used to.This week I finished 3 books and started one more. I still have 5 books to go to finish all 52 in the challenge.
The Wind in the Willows - I reread this for a book I loved as a child and really enjoyed it! It brought back a lot of memories.
Fairest - I listened to this as an audiobook, which was perfect -- I could do other things while I listened. I liked it fine, but haven't enjoyed any of the background books in the Lunar Chronicles series as much as I enjoy the four main books. It didn't fit any prompt I still have open.
Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash - This was a terrific book! I learned about the incredible trash tours you can take in L.A., the artists-in-residence program at the waste facility in S.F., and all the issues surrounding waste disposal. The last part of the book was the best -- it was inspiring about what individuals can do themselves. Trash is a HUGE problem that we don't talk about much. This also didn't fit any prompt for this challenge.
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women - I just started this book. It was recommended to me based on the fact that I like Anne Fadiman's books and so far I'm finding it excellent reading. It also doesn't fulfill a Popsugar prompt for me.
Question of the week
Lots of books make me laugh out loud at certain parts anyway -- Dear Committee Members springs to mind for a book I read not long ago. Probably the funniest book I have ever read was The Lazlo Letters. It is a compilation of letters written to corporations and politicians by a comedian using a pseudonym, and the letters are printed alongside the responses. Some are super funny (Why does my bubble bath powder say to keep it dry? I lost a Timex watch on the beach, could it be the one in the commercial?). Just occurred to me that both of these would fit the book of letters prompt, though I've already fulfilled that. He has other books out, but this was his first and, I think, his funniest.
Just the one book for me this week:An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: I really really liked this; I think it took me maybe two days to get through. It's probably the best "advice book" I've ever read, mainly because a lot of the book is a memoir of his personal experiences. This got a rare 5/5 for me.
I haven't done a ton of reading this week, but I've got a couple of library books that I need to hurry up and get to or renew.
Greetings from NYC, where we celebrate the first week of autumn with the hottest, most sweltering, disgusting weather of the summer. I really yearn for cold, cold, cold!No challenge reading for me this week - either finished or in progress. I only have one book remaining - my 800+ pager - and was waiting on the arrival of a paperback edition of Hunger’s Brides: A Novel of the Baroque that I had to order from Canada (only place that published a paperback version) because at 1300+ the hardcover is just too heavy to carry around as I commute. The paperback has arrived and I will be starting that during the next week. Yay!
So I've been reading other things, all from my TBR lists/piles/towers:
The Nightingale - Beautiful painful read - really do like it but I've had to take a break 2/3rd's of the way because I just could not stop crying. The author has a gift for writing emotional truths that just rip me apart. I'm puddling up as I write this! And I know that it will continue to hit me hard from time to time as I finish it, so it has to wait until I can be home for a day - no more reading it in public! And, once I finish that, no more books set during WWII for at least 6 months...there has just been one too many of them this year.
Last weekend, when I had to put The Nightingale on hiatus, I desperately needed light fun cozy. Ended up reading and finishing two entries in a new (to me) cozy series set in the artisan glass bead world in Seattle Washington. They were the perfect antidote: High Strung and A Bead in the Hand. Really fun, fast reads, full of eccentric characters and recognizable settings. The plotting of the murder in each is thin, but the author is actually a renowned glass bead artisan (her work is in museums and galleries world-wide) who one day realized that the bead world offered a wonderful background for a cozy mystery series. She's right. These will appeal to cozy mystery lovers and anyone caught up in the world of handmade glass and beads.
Last night I started The Namesake. Lahiri and I share an alma mater - Barnard College - and she will be speaking there next week about her work. I've had this on my shelves waiting to be read since 2003. The least I can do is read it before attending her talk! Also, I wanted to read a banned book this week (I've read many, but wanted specifically to honor Banned Book Week). 'Lo and behold, The Namesake was banned in some US high schools in 2003 for 'sexually explicit content inappropriate for high school seniors'. Presumably it was not inappropriate for juniors and sophomores?! Two birds, one stone. Enjoying it so far.
One thing that I'm doing with my non-challenge reads is fit them to prompts in the 2015 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge as I go, as I did not discover this challenge until 2016. I am hoping to finish 2015 if not this year, then next year for sure. I have managed to fill about half the prompts with various non-challenge books I've read this year. The Nightingale for example will nicely fit the prompt for a tearjerker - an does it ever!
QOTW: I don't often laugh out loud while reading - but some that spring to mind where I did:
Notes from a Small Island - reading it on a flight from London to NYC about 15 years ago, and I burst out in loud laughter during the first chapter over the whole cornflakes in Dover scene (my father ate cornflakes every single day), and had to put it away because I was disturbing everyone. I still chuckle when I think of that chapter.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter - wonderful tongue in cheek depiction of a typical run up to Christmas in NYC - whether the time of the book (1950s) or the present. Chuckles were known to escape my lips as I read.
Three Bags Full - murder mystery where shepherd's death is investigated by his SHEEP! Funny throughout, but absolutely hilarious laugh out loud final re-enactment scene near the end. Warning: I read this when it was first published, loved it, then listened to the audiobook for challenge this year. It does not work in audiobook IMHO because it is written from the sheep's POV, and a person being the voice of the sheep just does not work, especially as there are human characters in the story as well.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - laughed out loud on the bus home from work when I read "I hope you don't sack him; he seems a nice boy, and he really had no alternative -- I menaced him with 'Remembrance of Things Past'. Yes - I'm a Proustian!
There are many books with scenes or plots or characters I find hilarious, leading me to read them again and again:
Introduction of the Baluchistan Hound in Frederica
Rest You Merry and The Family Vault
Snowdrops and Scandalbroth and Lord Heartless
And yes, I'm a very eclectic reader!
Sheri wrote: "Hi all! After an extremely sweltering weekend and early week, Michigan has decided it's fall after all.
I am so jealous!
Nicole wrote: "Good morning, fellow readers! It has been fall for real this week, and I'm loving it! Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, cloudy & rainy, it's just lovely! It's also good reading weather, although I..."OK, now I'm seriously JEALOUS! I want Fall! I want Fall!
oh, and yeah, the A-Z thing is cool!here's where I stand. As others did I didn't count articles at the beginning of a title, and I used the title as is on the edition I read.
- letters remaining: H K Q U X Y Z
- one-book letters: D F G I J L T V W
- two books letters: E M N P
- three-books letters: A B
- four-books letters: C O R S
plus one book with digits only.
Theresa wrote: "Greetings from NYC, where we celebrate the first week of autumn with the hottest, most sweltering, disgusting weather of the summer. I really yearn for cold, cold, cold!No challenge reading for m..."
I was wondering if anyone was attempting to finish or start the older challenges. I’m almost done with 2017’s challenge and I abandoned 2016, but I would love to complete it.
Dani wrote: "Hello from a still to freaking hot Columbus. Send help, we are melting. I'm so close to being done with the entire reading challenge. The last book I'll have is like 800 pages so I bet that'll take..."I'm with you on the 800 pages book...only one left!
Oh, and Anthony Bourdain, love love love the snark! Always makes me laugh.
I'm doing the older challenges. I found it in 2016 but didn't stay at all focused on it. I think I'd vaguely heard of it in 2015 but didn't look further into it.
I scrapped what I'd done in 2016 and started again. I'm also going back and doing last year's Bustle challenge and the old Book Riot challenges.
My intent is to focus on each challenge that is in progress that year and then once those are done to focus on the older ones. It may take me a bit to get through them all but I'm enjoying it.
I tallied my books for a-z; I am missing several (C D N P Q R V X Z) but I have 5 for m and s and 4 for h and w lol
Reyna wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Greetings from NYC, where we celebrate the first week of autumn with the hottest, most sweltering, disgusting weather of the summer. I really yearn for cold, cold, cold!I was wondering if anyone was attempting to finish or start the older challenges. I’m almost done with 2017’s challenge and I abandoned 2016, but I would love to complete it.
"
I completed 2016, just have one book left for 2017, and this year thought to take my non-challenge reads, mostly from challenge vacation periods, and see how they fit. Actually got the idea from a friend who last year finished 2016 about this time and launched into 2015 because she had enjoyed herself so much.
I was surprised at how easy it was to fill prompts from my casual reading this year. At least initially. Now it's harder and most non-challenge casual reads don't fit a prompt. I will actually start picking books to read to fill the remaining 2015 prompts -- but after I finish those I've already started.
For the A-Z, I'd be missing D, Q, V, X and Z.
More on QOTW (as reading others suggestions reminded me):Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris at his funniest. I re-read The Santa Diaries and that one that's the annual family letter and laugh out loud every single year.
This week I finished A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival. It was my "book about an immigrant or refugee."QOTW: I tend to not read a lot of funny books...so I don't actually laugh out loud, but I may snort. or chuckle a little at something sarcastic...
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Kraken (other topics)Perdido Street Station (other topics)
The City & the City (other topics)
Zoo City (other topics)
An Eye for Murder (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Shel Silverstein (other topics)Hannah Kent (other topics)
Rick Riordan (other topics)
Ken Follett (other topics)
Janet Evanovich (other topics)
More...
Remember that the polls for November and December group reads are open through tomorrow, 9/29! Go here to cast your votes: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...
Fall weather returns to my area this weekend so I'm hoping for a resurgence in reading time! I need a nice, long weekend with nothing to do (not likely to happen any time soon though).
I have been trying to focus on reading my challenge books this last week so I can check off a few more prompts. I finished one book this week - Murder on the Orient Express. I am of two minds about Agatha Christie. She is definitely a skilled mystery writer, but I am big on character development. Due to the large quantity of characters, relatively short books and focus on plot I just find that I’m not that interested. Ah well, it’s good to mix things up every once in a while with something outside my normal sphere.
I’m still working on:
Thomasina - for my cat on the cover
Rebecca - reread for my book group
46 of 52 complete
Question of the week:
From Juanita: What is the funniest book you have ever read? Did you truly "laugh out loud"?
This is a hard one for me. I don't like the same kinds of comedy that the average person (or at least the average America) does. Books written by comedians don't appeal to me. Mostly what makes me laugh out loud is a snappy comeback from a favorite character. This happens quite often in the Outlander books.