Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

This one has me stumped at the moment. Why isn't there a Harry Potter book where he goes to college?? :D

Let's hear your ideas for books set on campus!

Does Dead Poets Society count for this one?

Loner - Teddy Wayne

Some suggestions:

Fangirl
I Was Here
A Little Something Different

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

I'm probably going to go nonfiction here and read 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence

Rush by Lisa Patton

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

I'm hoping Stoner fits this prompt since the description mentions he goes to university and becomes a scholar and I really want to finally read this next year. Can anyone confirm this fits the prompt?

If not, I will probably go with the already mentioned, The Secret History.

I really want to count The Professor for this one, since I picked it for ATY's 'set at a school' prompt, but I don't think it technically counts.

There's Gaudy Night, of course. I could always fall back on re-reading that...

I think The Historian uses at least some university libraries as settings.

And I suppose you could count Educated since she's at college for about the last half of the book.

This is a tough one for me!

Fangirl is a great one. Also A Discovery of Witches takes place at the library at Oxford... a university library counts, right?

Make Your Home Among Strangers
The Art of Fielding
Wonder Boys

The books I own that could fit the theme are:

Middle C by William H. Gass. It's a Bildungsroman, so it's not entirely set at a college, but the older Professor Joseph Skizzen does have a job teaching music at a mediocre Bible college.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt is set at a New England college and features students as its protagonists.

The Untouchable by John Banville is a novel inspired by the Anthony Blunt/Cambridge Spies case, so some of it takes place at university, though not the whole thing.

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, which portrays a professor of Russian at the fictional Waindell College.

Kent State: What Happened and Why by James A. Michener is a nonfiction look at the infamous Kent State shooting in 1970, where National Guardsmen shot and killed four students and wounded nine.

Rachelnyc wrote: "I'm hoping Stoner fits this prompt since the description mentions he goes to university and becomes a scholar and I really want to finally read this next year."

It does fit the prompt, and I hope you enjoy it. Personally, I found this novel to be brilliant (and I'm half-tempted to reread it).

Nullifidian wrote: "Rachelnyc wrote: "I'm hoping Stoner fits this prompt since the description mentions he goes to university and becomes a scholar and I really want to finally read this next year."

It ..."

Thank you! It's been on my TBR for ages and it's one that I am prioritizing for next year so I'm glad I can use it to fill a prompt.

Harvard Yard. It's about a treasure hunt on the Harvard campus. I love William martin. He's kind of Micheneresque. I haven't read this one yet, so that's good for me.

Oh! Daddy Long legs would be a great fit for this one. If you haven’t read it yet.

This is a tough one!!

I think these count (but do I want to read them???):
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Roomies
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
Rush

and that brings me to the assortment of "New Adult" books that may (or may not?) be set at a college (I got these off of a Listopia and did not check all of them):
Beautiful Disaster
Losing It
The Deal
Easy
Providence
We'll Always Have Summer
Half-Blood
Bloodlines
Beautiful Bastard
I don't really like "New Adult" but I'm not feeling inspired by this category so I may choose one of these just to get it out of the way.

For anyone who wants to do a graphic novel challenge, America, Vol. 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez partly takes place on a college campus (Sotomayor University)

For sci-fi fans, Okorafor's "Binti" series involves Binti travelling to a university (but most of the action takes place either on a spaceship or back home on Earth).

Kenya wrote: "Fangirl is a great one. Also A Discovery of Witches takes place at the library at Oxford... a university library counts, right?"

I came here to recommend Fangirl! And A Discovery of Witches is on my TBR, good to know it will work for this prompt.

Beautiful Disaster for this one. Its been on my list for a while but the reviews have made me hold off. Time to do it!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

The Doomsday book (time travel) is set in Oxford.

Fangirl is really wonderful. No other ideas yet!

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was another great nonfiction read and a lot of it takes place on the MIT campus.

The Professor by Charlotte Brontë is on gutenberg.org

DESCENT by Gabrielle Estres is set to come out this year and looks promising!

"The gruesome murder of a history professor at Cambridge University reveals a sinister secret that has been kept hidden from the world for almost six centuries – a secret so powerful and valuable, that people are willing to kill for it, even today...Her desperate search for the truth leads her from the ancient university archives of Cambridge, to Rome and Florence, and from there to Vienna, Istanbul, Budapest and finally to a remote monastery in the Fagaras Mountains, at the heart of what was once the principality of Wallachia."

Do you think Educated would work for this prompt?

Jill wrote: "Do you think Educated would work for this prompt?"

Only a small part of the book is set on a college campus. The majority is growing up at home.

Until the Last Star Fades takes place at NYU and was my favorite book of 2018. I also read Professed and really liked it. I love the professor/student trope in romance novels, so I'll probably try to find one to fit this prompt.

Is A Separate Peace college? Or just a boarding school? It’s been so long since I read it...

Kristina wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

The Doomsday book (time travel) is set in Oxford."

Does To Say Nothing of the Dog have a large chunk at the university as well? I know it's more of a stand alone sequel so I wasn't sure if it still counted.

No, To Say Nothing of the Dog is set on the river and in the surrounding countryside, and in a church. (I just read it this year for the time travel prompt)

The Guardian has a list of top campus novels: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Im going with The Secret History...maybe, I was afraid to pick it up this year.

The Name of the Wind takes place in part at least at a university, as does The Wise Man's Fear. This series is excellent. I wish Doors of Stone was out, or being released this year, I would so read that!

I was at a total loss until I discovered My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan on my TBR. Sounds like such a fun read. If you're like me and were kind of dreading all the NA...check this one out!

The First Stone: Some Questions of Sex and Power by Helen Garner - non fiction story of an indecent assault claim by two female students in 1992 at Melbourne University. The man they accused was the head of their co-ed residential college.

Sara wrote: "This one has me stumped at the moment. Why isn't there a Harry Potter book where he goes to college?? :D

The Magicians is the closest thing. :)

Wendy wrote: "No, To Say Nothing of the Dog is set on the river and in the surrounding countryside, and in a church. (I just read it this year for the time travel prompt)

The Guardian has a list of top campus n..."

Sweet! This will be a backup for the church prompt. Thanks!

Tracy wrote: "Im going with The Secret History...maybe, I was afraid to pick it up this year."


hahaha and I say: Don't be afraid to DNF that sucker!!! I just could not with that book. And I have no regrets.

The Royal We is a fun read that takes place on a university campus in the UK

Party Girls Die in Pearls: An Oxford Girl Mystery is set at Oxford and is a quick and light read.

His Dark Materials Trilogy is set in a fictional version of Oxford University

Themis wrote: "I wonder if Norwegian Wood fits this prompt."

Yes, of course it does. However, I already used in the 2018 prompt :)

I found mine! Its been on my Kindle forever!

The Perfect Game

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Anabell wrote: "Does Dead Poets Society count for this one?"

I don't know if it counts, but any book that has inspired a film starring Robin Williams feels like a book I really need to read!

Katy wrote: "Harvard Yard. It's about a treasure hunt on the Harvard campus. I love William martin. He's kind of Micheneresque. I haven't read this one yet, so that's good for me."

I read that years ago and loved it!

Rachael wrote: "Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Looking for Alaska by John Green"

I was thinking about Looking for Alaska but it happened on high school campus not university nor college campus

Vivian wrote: "Rachael wrote: "Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Looking for Alaska by John Green"

I was thinking about Looking for Alaska but it happened ..."

Ah of course! I hadn't read it for a couple of years, I misremembered the boarding school as college. It could work as a debut novel though

Rachael wrote: "Anabell wrote: "Does Dead Poets Society count for this one?"

I don't know if it counts, but any book that has inspired a film starring Robin Williams feels like a book I really need t..."

Ha ha ha... I agree :-)

It does take place at an all boys college as far as I know so thinking it would be considered a campus.

I was wondering if Colin Dexter series about Morse could count as well. Most of them have a murder happen at the campus area of college or universities in Oxford and so the investigation is there some of the times. But haven't read them myself has only seen the tv-series.