Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

This is a fun one, and very specific to the Popsugar challenge :)

I think I will read The Sugar Queen, but I'm curious to see what you all will suggest!

Some suggestions:

Year of No Sugar - Eve O. Schaub
Sugar Street - Naguib Mahfouz
The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen
Queen Sugar - Natalie Baszile
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

In Watermelon Sugar is probably going to be my read here.

The nice thing about the title prompts is that they're very easy to search for (unlike the cover prompts). The difficult part is that they can be very specific.

Looks like I'll finally be reading this one:

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives (The full subtitle isn't showing up, but it includes 'how I quit sugar'.)

For anyone taking Alisia's suggestions, please be aware that Naguib Mahfouz's Sugar Street is the third book of the Cairo Trilogy. Palace Walk and Palace of Desire come before, in that order. However, since Naguib Mahfouz was Egyptian, you could use one of the first two books for the writer from Africa, South America, or Asia category, and the other for the book about a family, because the entire Cairo Trilogy is a family saga.

For this one, I couldn't think of any unread book I have other than Islam and the Challenge of Civilization by Abdelwahab Meddeb.

Although if we're allowed partial matches, I do have a copy of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. I would think that ought to count, because how many times does the word "pop" appear by itself in a title, other than in Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop?

Welcome to Sugartown

Zuckersüßes Glück

Might be fun to do a pop-up book for this. Hmmm...

Huh, this is a little tricky. Only option I have is Sugar Money.

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

Wow, I thought I would have more choices here! I may have to look farther afield, at books that are not actually on my TBR list.

Remnant POPulation
POPe Joan (tbh, I don't really want to read this and I think I should take it off my TBR)

Second Chance at the Sugar Shack (I'm a little surprised that this is the ONLY book with "sugar' in the title on my TBR list!!)

The Lost World (Professor Challenger #1)
High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society

I read the L.A. Candy series by Lauren Conrad years ago and the third book, Sugar and Spice, fits this prompt. The first book works for an author's debut and the second book contains "sweet", so that's another one of those prompts focused on titles covered.

I've been wanting to read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed for awhile now -- looks like its time has come!

Sara wrote: "This is a fun one, and very specific to the Popsugar challenge :)

I think I will read The Sugar Queen, but I'm curious to see what you all will suggest!"

I think I'm going to do the same. This one was hard for me. I went through my entire "to read" list and those words arent mentioned in any titles!

Brittany wrote: "In Watermelon Sugar is probably going to be my read here."

I love Brautigan and chose the same book

I’m thinking I might go easy on this category and read Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss. Also found Pop!: the invention of bubble gum by Meghan McCarthy.

From my TBR shelf:


The Sugar House by Laura Lippman
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Pop Goes the Murder by Kristi Abbott
Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson
Poppy Done to Death by Charlaine Harris
Population: 485 : Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry

It's a book of comics, but I'm going with Step Aside, Pops

Kate Beaton is really funny.

Anyone has any YA suggestions for this prompt?

I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!

Rachel wrote: "I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!"

Perfect! That's what I'm probably going to read as well.

Sandra wrote: "Anyone has any YA suggestions for this prompt?"

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is YA. As mentioned above, I didn't love it, but I do normally love the author, so it's definitely worth a try.

And if you want to stretch it a bit there's Salt, which I haven't read yet, but is on my TBR.

I totally lost track of which thread I was on. *facepalm*

There's Challenger Deep if you want to stretch the word a bit.

I read a long-ish micro-history called Sugar: The World Corrupted: From Slavery to Obesity. If you're into history and into learning more about how we go to be so sugar-heavy in our diets, it's a good read.

I think I'm going to read Queen Sugar.

The only thing I could find on my TBR was The Sugar Queen, but I like Sarah Addison Allen so...

A quick search of my books shows I have already read the 2 top suggestions, Beneath the Sugar Sky and The Sugar Queen.

I have a few things where "pop" is part of a word like The Poppy War which I can use at a stretch but I'll have to keep looking.

I am looking at Sugar Cookie Murder a book in the Hannah Swensen series. They also work for amateur detective. As far as I can tell, you don´t need to read them in order? And are they any good? (I know they are not going to be a great literary landmark in my reading life, but good as in entertaining).

The only thing that came up on my TBR when searching the words is Challenger Deep which might be a bit of a stretch, but I may go with it anyway.

I'm going to go with Mary POPpins (unless I find something that feels less like cheating).

Rachel wrote: "I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!"

Would you happen to know if the first book of that series (Every Heart a Doorway) fits the 'amateur detective' prompt?

Either Lovoa's Challenge or The Poppy War (if they don't cancel my order yet again) - the only ones on my TBR/wishlist that come to mind.

I'm just thinking that I did slot in Every Heart a Doorway for my rejects challenge over in ATY. If I use Down Among the Sticks and Bones for the past Pop Sugar Prompt ( 2015: A book with magic) THEN I can use Beneath the Sugar Sky here.

So many series on my lists next year.

The only book of 700 on my TBR that fully matches is Sugar Money so i will go with that or maybe go with the suggestion to slightly cheat with Challenger Deep.

I just discovered Black Sugar which actually sounds quite compelling.

Rachel, I think I will also slightly cheat and go with Challenger Deep. The whole word challenge is there, so it's not that much of a cheat. I have wanted to read that book ever since I heard of it.

Milena wrote: "Rachel, I think I will also slightly cheat and go with Challenger Deep. The whole word challenge is there, so it's not that much of a cheat. I have wanted to read that book ever since I heard of it."

My thought exactly Milena. Technically, the word Challenge is in the title...

I've decided to read Sugar, book of Bernice L. McFadden's Sugar Lacey duology.

I do also want to read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar.

Jordan wrote: "I'm going to go with Mary POPpins (unless I find something that feels less like cheating)."

I like your idea :)
Who says we can't be creative with our challenges!

Nicole wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I'm going to go with Mary POPpins (unless I find something that feels less like cheating)."

I like your idea :)
Who says we can't be creative with our challenges!"

See--I don't think this is "cheating". It says "A book with 'pop', 'sugar', or 'challenge' in the title". It doesn't actually say that it needs to be those words as stand alone words--so, I feel that as long as those words appear somewhere in the title, they are fair game.

That being said--I've had Sugarhouse: Turning the Neighborhood Crack House into Our Home Sweet Home on my TBR list for a long time, so I think I'm using that.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us is a fantastic non-fiction read

My TBR is almost 1000 and I have no matches at all! I'm going to have to check out my library catalogue

I really like someones idea with a pop-up book. They usually have 'pop-up' in the subtitle. If all else fails ;)

Aesma wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!"

Would you happen to know if the first book of that series ([book..."

I would so! It is a mystery about a murder, and the children are trying to solve it.

Jenny wrote: "Aesma wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!"

Would you happen to know if the first book of that..."

Excellent, now I can fit all three books into next year's challenge! Thank you! :)

Johanne wrote: "I am looking at Sugar Cookie Murder a book in the Hannah Swensen series. They also work for amateur detective. As far as I can tell, you don´t need to read them in order? And are they ..."

That series is pretty good. It does get old eventually, but the first 6 or more are well worth reading, IMO.

Oh dear. This prompt is forcing my hand on something I've been avoiding. So, I love Roald Dahl's children's stories. A few years ago I bought a set of his adult books, thinking I'd love them too. I read My Uncle Oswald...and was pretty disgusted. So I've not read any of the others in the set, but I also haven't donated them because I keep telling myself I'll try them again one day. Well, 2019 would appear to be that one day, because the only TBR book I have with pop/sugar/challenge in the title is The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Hmmm...

Looking at my TBR I have. Nothing.
This is one where I am hoping a great book will present itself during the year. And then I´ll look at all your suggestions if it doesn´t. Or read Game of Thrones: A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros or The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares, seriously how cool are those titles?

Johanne wrote: "Looking at my TBR I have. Nothing.
This is one where I am hoping a great book will present itself during the year. And then I´ll look at all your suggestions if it doesn´t. Or read [book:Game of T..."

These sound so fun!! We have a charlie and the chocolate factory pop up book somewhere that the girls used to love ( not sure if anything pops up anymore because they loved it to death...literally, LOL) But I like this idea as a simple option.

Books I have on my TBR:
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
Sugar Rush
Sugar and Slate
Challenger Deep

Could also stretch to -
Britpop!: Cool Britannia And The Spectacular Demise Of English Rock

American Pop

Aesma wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Aesma wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I thought this one would be really hard, until I remembered I wanted to read Beneath the Sugar Sky!"

Would you happen to know if the firs..."

You're welcome!