Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Week 49: 11/28/19 - 12/5/19

Happy Thursday! We’ve had our first serious snow fall of the season, so I guess it’s winter now. Too bad I never got around to cleaning off the deck before a foot of snow fell on it.

A BUNCH of Admin Stuff: Our first poll results are in for 2020 group reads!

* January’s group read (for a great first line) will be Red Sister. If anyone would like to lead the group discussion, let Sara or me know.

* June’s group read category will be: a book by a transgender or non-binary author.

* October’s group read category will be: a book featuring one of the seven deadly sins.

* THE REST OF THE FIRST QUARTER READS WILL BE SELECTED NOW:
We are trying different methods for nominating group reads before voting. For February and March, we will use a TWO STEP PROCESS.

FIRST STEP: polls with WRITE IN options. I took the top books from our Listopias to start the list of nominations - please write in any other book you’d like to see considered (I have no idea if GR will limit us to a certain number, I guess we'll find out!), or - if your choice is already there - vote for your preferred book. Your vote is your nomination.

Nominating polls are here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
and
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...


This is Step One!

SECOND STEP (next week): After a week, the nominating poll will close, and we will create the Final Poll using the top, most popular, titles (ideally, the top 6 titles, but it doesn’t always work out perfectly, it may be more or fewer). This is why it's important to vote for your favorite in this week's nominating poll, even if it's there already - this IS a popularity contest! :-)

The winner of this Final Poll will become our group read.

If we like this method, we will use it again for future group reads selections.


Okay, phew! that's it for admin stuff this week!


Books I finished this week:
After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones - this book of short stories was my final read for Native American Heritage Month. Jones never lets me down, I always love his writing. Each story is suitably thought-provoking and satisfyingly creepy (but never too creepy), but they all have a similar feel, so it’s best to read no more than one each day, or it starts to feel too “repeatey.”

Among Others by Jo Walton - a book on my annual personal challenge list of books I have to read this year. I basically hated this book. I sure was glad to be finished.

Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook by Hugh Amano & Sarah Becan - I didn’t actually read this cover-to-cover, I just picked it up every few days and read what I could until my library loan was over. This was cute, but I wished they organized it better to be more accessible. As it’s written, you need to read through almost the whole thing before you can cook. I’m used to dipping into a cookbook and trying a recipe right away.

The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh - I really loved this, it’s exactly the sort of gritty, dark psychological, not-really-a-thriller book that I love these days. Even better: McHugh has written two other hooks that I haven’t read yet!


Question of the Week
Do you have any reading goals left to achieve in 2019?



I do! I have one book left on my personal challenge: Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime (and I’m a little worried about it, because I DNFed the only other book I’ve ever picked up by Val McDermid - if this is a clunker for me, I will allow myself to DNF).

I also am working through my Literary Advent Calendar of short stories, and I’m planning my annual Xmas Day graphic novel binge.

QOTW: Nope.

Just a quick one before I run after the bus to work.

Finished:
The Starless Sea in print. I love Ms Morgenstern's writing. I wish I was far younger than her and could have a binge. Ah well.

Young Men in Spats - Bedtime Wodehouse

The Clockwork Dynasty - Native author. This was fine but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I'm not sure why.


Currently Reading:
There There - I'll finish this audio today for book club tonight.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller - This is really amusing me right now.

Mr. Mulliner Speaking - Bedtime Wodehouse


On Deck:
The Starless Sea on audio. I don't re-read often but I need more Morgenstern.


QOTW:
I guess I'll kinda get that binge after all, though in re-reads. The Night Circus is my last prompt for the challenge (re-read of a favorite book) and also my upcoming book club read.

Hi all
Two-week check in.

I read a bunch of books that don´t really fit anything.

I finished one book for the challenge:
Minecraft: The Lost Journals for LitRPG. This was good fun. I´m not sure how much on point it is for the genre, it´s abour two kids living in Minecraft, and following a trail to Nether, all the in-game stuff follows game rules (how to build a portal to Nether, how to heal and stuff like that).

Currently reading:
Bitre Mandler (Bitter almonds) for "bitter, sweet" etc. Christmas crime short stories. I´ve had this planned all year for december...

The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism for ATY "related to STEM". The first 50 pages dragged but now it´s really interesting. Would´ve worked well for next year´s "subject you know nothing about"

QOTW:
Apart from the two currently reading I´m reading a couple more + a couple graphic novels to finish off ATY and PS.
I´m a bit fed up with challenges right now, I´m seriously considering if 2020 should be my year of reading series and whatever the hell else I want. On the other hand I really enjoy participating in our discussions here, and I quite like the prompts. So I will probably end up deciding not to do it and then do it anyway. I´ll let you know how it goes.

This week I finished Mary Balogh's Someone to Wed, which was another lovely romance from one of the best romance writers out there. I also finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I read along with a podcast. I am really enjoying this re-read of Harry Potter that I have been doing this year. I won't be finishing the final book until next year, because the podcast won't be finished.

QOTW: I have finished my challenges for the year. I was considering adding an additional challenge for next year, but I don't think it's realistic and it would probably be way too stressful to have to read that many books. So, I'm sticking with just my standard goodreads number and the popsugar. I'm really looking forward to the prompts for 2020. And I know a lot of people have already started, but I am going to wait until January. Just my personal preference.

Johanne wrote: "I´m a bit fed up with challenges right now, I´m seriously considering if 2020 should be my year of reading series and whatever the hell else I want..."

You can always just read want you want and then see how many prompts you fill by accident. I was a bit fed up with challenges until I finished them all and then I missed them dreadfully!

Not much read again, I finished Scarlet on audio. It's ages since I read Cinder and I think I'm still a bit meh about the characters but I kinda want to see what happens to the world.

Currently reading The Rosewater Redemption and Oligarchy, both for overdue review.

QOTW:
Nope, I'm all done with challenges and goals for this year. Champing at the bit for 2020!

@Ellie: That´s probably what I will end up doing. And then sort of see where I am at around the halfyear mark, and decide if I want to finish.

Ellie wrote: "...Currently reading The Rosewater Redemption and Oligarchy, both for overdue review..."

Oh I know those "overdue reviews"...

This week I finished:

Where the Crawdads Sing: I thought this book was incredibly special, but also (unpopular opinion) not a 5 star book for me. I thought that the real charm of this book was a lot more about how it was written than what it was about, but what really made it special were the characters, particularly Kya, of course. I felt like the characters were so much bigger than the story that I kept hoping for something more, but even then the story was great. 4 stars for me.

Matilda: I probably read this book at least 20 times as a child, but this was my first time reading it as an adult. It fit the challenge of "a book published the year you were born" from 2015 so I wanted to read it again. Still loved it, but noticed a lot more adult themes during this reread.

The Medical Examiner: This book was very meh for me. I am committed to my James Patterson series, but they continue to not live up to his books from the past, but it was nice and short.

Currently reading:

I'm not currently reading anything, because I am currently obsessed with binge watching The Peaky Blinders and I am devoting every free second to that, but I just got The Escape Room from the library, so I anticipate starting that this weekend after I finish catching up on the show.

QOTW:

My only specific goals were to finish the challenge and read 100 books this year and I hit both of those ages ago, but there are still a ton of non-formal goals I'm working on. I'm trying to finish all the past year's challenges (but I know that will take at least another year or 2) and I'm trying to read all the books I actually own (which is a considerable and not necessarily super appealing task, because I inherited a very large book collection from two grandparents) They are absolutely beautiful on my book shelves, but I've never been very invested in the classics.

I finished my challenge this week!! Woohoo!!! I usually finish in November, but I got hung up on "book set in space". I tried a half dozen different books before I could find one that I could get through. Special thanks to Nadine for tolerating my rant and giving me suggestions :)

Finished:

Illuminae - this was my book in space. I'm divided on it. I loved the humor in her writing, and the audio narration was top notch! On the other hand, the plot just didn't really catch my interest that much. Space books aren't really my thing. I don't mind stretching myself, but it doesn't surprise me that I didn't much care about the fate of the ships. I think it would be an excellent read for anyone who is intrigued by the plot description though.

A Christmas Carol - I don't necessarily reread this book every Christmas, but I was in the mood this week. I think my enjoyment of the story goes up with every reread. Of course, my favorite adaptation is the Muppet's Christmas Carol so I'm picturing them as the characters :) I listened to the audio narration by Jim Dale.

Currently reading:

Jacob T. Marley - following up my binge listen of Christmas Carol by rereading this Marley tale. The first part of the book gives us a background on Marley, how he met Scrooge and his death. Then follows Marley's story of how and why he was sent to Scrooge with his cryptic warning. It's been a couple years since I read it, but I think Marley gives commentary as Scrooge has his three ghostly encounters.

The Princess Companion - First book in a series of fairytale retellings. I've been eyeballing the books in this series because of all the pretty dresses on the covers! They are all available on Kindle Unlimited (I'm on a free trial right now) so I'll inge for a while and see how far I get. It's complete fluff, but since I've finished my challenge and we're in the final month of the year I just want to sit back and read Christmas books and light fluff :)

QOTW

I finished my Popsugar challenge and have exceeded my Goodreads goal for the year. I do have two other challenges to finish (for various book clubs), but I'm not super stressed about finishing them. I think I will, but I won't be upset if I don't.

My only other reading goal is to actually read some of my favorite Christmas books this year (last year I didn't get around to it).

I was reading Winterness but I left it at my sister-in-law's place in Germany at the weekend, so won't get it back until Christmas.

Instead gonna focus on finishing:
Water Ways: A thousand miles along Britain's canals
A Dog's Journey
and Onze Minutos

Sara wrote: "I'm really looking forward to the prompts for 2020. And I know a lot of people have already started, but I am going to wait until January. "


ARE a lot of people already started? I’ve been surprised by how many people on Facebook are starting now! Isn’t the planning and anticipation part of the fun? I’m wondering if that’s a FB/GR divide? I never see people on GR say they are starting next year’s challenge in Nov or Dec ...

This week has been all about the nostalgia reading. I decided to read some Stargate tie-in novels. I have so many of them sitting on my shelf and only a few will fit into next year’s challenge, so why not enjoy them now? I fell down a rabbit hole of reading some of my old book reviews. It made me want to get back in the habit of writing reviews. That might be my bookish resolution for next year.

Finished
Trial by Fire by Sabine C. Bauer. Not a very good tie-in novel. Too much out of character stuff happening and the world-building is confusing. The best part was the plot twist with Ba’al, but sadly that was rushed.

Alliances by Karen Miller. The story and writing was good. Bonus points for including Major Davis and the Tok’ra. I got tired of the constant angst over a past event, though. No one I know who watched the show was sad when the space Nazi died. Why are the characters discussing it for 300 pages?

Blood Ties by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christiansen. I loved it! It’s a crossover story, which I like more than almost any other kind of story. This duo are incredible writers. I mean, my favorite part are the telepathic space dinosaurs. There is also a crime procedural involving alien succubi. It’s a wild ride.

Reading
I'm not sure which book I'm starting tonight. I might just keep reading Stargate books until it's time to read Christmas books.

QOTW
Nope. I'm all done with reading challenges and goals for the year.

Congratulations, Sara!!

Nadine wrote: "ARE a lot of people already started? I’ve been surprised by how many people on Facebook are starting now!"

I've seen the same thing. I'm starting early this year. My mother and I exchange books on Christmas Eve and read all evening. And I have the week between Christmas and New Year's off work. It's prime reading time. But it definitely feels like I'm the only one here starting early and like I'm starting much later than a lot of people in the FB group.

Nadine wrote: "Sara wrote: "I'm really looking forward to the prompts for 2020. And I know a lot of people have already started, but I am going to wait until January. "


ARE a lot of people already started? I’ve..."

I'm too busy trying to tie up this year's!

Happy Thursday Friends!

Didn't end up checking in last week but I hadn't read any books so didn't have much to report. I actually am about an hour from finishing the only book I've attempted this week but I'm having login issues getting to my work computer (I work remotely) so I thought I'd take this free time to say hello!

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men this is the book I'm about 1 hr from finishing. I think this is a really interesting topic and there have been a lot of really good points brought up from it but part of me is putting it in the too anecdotal column and I'm wondering if that is based on my own subconscious biases or what. Still just because there are a lot of 'has anyone considered this' doesn't mean that it's inaccurate! Certainly an important topic to discuss and hopefully more studies will be funded for this kind of research (or correcting the biases already seen in research).

QOTW: My only reading goals I still want to complete by the EOY are ...well my current reading goals. I'm frankly flabbergasted that it's this far into the year and I'm still working on them. I have just 5 books left to finish my personal GR's challenge (100 books) which I should be able to do so easily and only 8 books left on the Popsugar challenge - I should also still be able to knock that out. I've just been in such a slump for honestly the past few months. I actually have 2 books from the library which I would normally devour but I've been very 'eh' when given the free time to read. My husband is on a work trip today until tomorrow so maybe I'll give one of them a go tonight.

Nadine wrote: "ARE a lot of people already started? I’ve been surprised by how many people on Facebook are starting now! Isn’t the planning and anticipation part of the fun? I’m wondering if that’s a FB/GR divide? I never see people on GR say they are starting next year’s challenge in Nov or Dec ..."

I noticed the same thing! On the facebook group there are so many people who are already starting and it's such a different thing from the people who check in weekly here!

I don't have much to update on this morning. I had some lofty goals of finishing 2-3 books this past week and I finished...none. I'm slowly easing off my antidepressants, and I went through a breakup the day before Thanksgiving, so I've been in a bit of a fog and just really wanting to sleep. I've also been focusing on making sure to work out (since I'm easing off the antidepressants and need to make sure I've got some healthy habits to carry me through).

However, I did make the command decision to go back through books I'd read this year that I didn't count toward the challenge to see if I could make them fit. After some re-shuffling, I was able to knock a couple more prompts off! I'm now at 40/48.

Finished:
Yeah, nothing

Currently Reading:
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet: I've switched to the physical book and I'm enjoying it even more this way! The audio reader is good, but boy does she read slow!

Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure: I've been reading this before bed. I (1) did not expect it to take this long and (2) did not expect it to be so fun! I honestly thought I'd just get to the first ending I found and be done with it, but it's too much fun, so I've kept going! I will say, I was surprised by how many potential endings involve death. My favorite so far has been the ending in which you murder Mr. Collins.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: I broke down and made this my "book with a question in the title," even though it's not actually a question...but I really want to finish this challenge and I'm reading this for work, so I forced it in.

Up Next:
I'm heading out of town this weekend and checked out My Lady Jane for the book with two female authors (it actually has three) to listen to. I don't normally juggle more than about two books max, so this will be interesting.

QOTW:
As you can see above, yes, I still have the rest of this challenge to work on! I'm also at my goal of 42/50 books read this year. So if I actually finish PS, I'll surpass my reading goal!

I cannot imagine the people who are already starting on next year's...I wish I had that much time to read!

Happy December! I missed last week's check-in because Thanksgiving was just too busy but I'm happy to report that I finished the challenge last week!

For the challenge, I finished Catch-22 for "a book that inspired a common idiom or phrase." I listened to this on audio and it was a little hard to follow because I don't think the narrator did a very good job at differentiating between character's but I liked the book.

I also read When We Caught Fire for "read a book during the season it's set in." I originally wanted to read a Christmas book but couldn't wait to just finish so I picked a fall book instead. This was a good YA romance set during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which I haven't actually read much about. I thought it was a unique setting even if some of the characters annoyed me.

Not for the challenge, I read Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. While I enjoyed this book, I was not taken by Dash. He came off as pretentious most of the time but Lily was a quirky enough character that I didn't care as much. And I liked the premise of the story. I'll probably read the sequel.

QOTW:
I don't have any actual goals, just to read what I can before starting the 2020 challenge, especially books I know won't fit into any prompts and Christmas stories.

FINISHED the challenge... sort of. I'm counting a couple of short stories (Sweetlings and Bourbon, Sugar, Grace) and three repeats (Harry Potter 7 for 1M ratings + a book you see on TV; The Rogue Crew for posthumously published + set in an abbey; and The Last One about a game + I meant to read it in 2018). Might go back and fill those in with unique books, might not.

Finished reading:

Bourbon, Sugar, Grace - Meh. Cool premise (a salvager in a mining colony finds a mysterious artifact with powerz). But the main character is SO passive. Like she knows company goons are hunting her, but she just goes straight home to rest. She's like that the whole story. Also the ending didn't make sense.

Currently reading:

I'm reading a couple visual novels (basically novels in video game form with choose-your-own-adventure elements). I'm not sure whether to count them for the challenge, but it's kind of neat how many 2020 prompts they would fulfill:

chaos;child - In the Shibuya district of Tokyo, a high school journalism club investigates a series of mysterious/paranormal murders. (So it's in Japan, in an Olympic city, and about journalists. It also involves social media - it's got a mixed-media format that includes message boards, chatlogs, etc. - and the club room has a map where they post crime scene pictures/info.)

AI: The Somnium Files - A police force special agent and his AI partner investigate a bizarre murder. This is also set in Japan. It features an AI, has a map, and the main character has vision enhancements (the AI is installed in his left eye socket and gives him x-ray vision and thermovision).


QotW:
No goals, really. I'm pretty strict about years (a book doesn't count for 2020 unless I finish it past midnight on January 1) so right now I'm just chilling.

This has been a tough week but reading always helps take my mind off the bad stuff.

I finished Golden State which was kind of all over the place. I liked it in the way that I like how most dystopian novels highlight the tragedy of living in a police state with mass incarceration. We pay a high price for the "law and order" we believe we need in the U.S. and that can't be discussed enough. I think they all have an underlying abolitionist thread which is awesome. The end was a bit confusing but also nice... after reading some very positive and negative reviews of the book I think I can agree with points from both. I'm leaving it at four stars for now, but may change my mind later.

I finished my signed copy of Sabrina & Corina: Stories. I'll admit that I have a slight positive bias for books when I meet the author and hear their story. Especially if they're really personable and I love their intentions for the book. Would I have given this short story collection five stars if I hadn't had a good experience meeting the author recently? Not sure, but it's ok because it was a really nice collection. I think the first, second, and final stories were my favorites. Five stars :)

I listened to Bangkok Wakes to Rain, which was not the best way to consume this book. I think I need to only read the print versions of novels that have multiple characters across multiple timelines. It's just too difficult to keep track of what's going on. And this one seemed to have an especially light connection across the stories where it could have almost been a short story collection. I might try it again in print if it ends up on the ToB shortlist. Three stars

I also listened to Say Say Say which was easy to follow on audio. I really enjoyed the first 80%, but found the last 20% just ok. I was glad that (view spoiler)[ Ella didn't end up making a move on Bryn though, since that idea was really making me cringe. And I appreciated that her character was bisexual since that gets little representation in books. (hide spoiler)]

I'm currently listening to The Goldfinch for a book club and reading my signed copy of Tears of the Trufflepig.

QOTW: The ToB longlist is my current reading focus. I hope the shortlist comes out next week so that I can prioritize finishing all of those before the contest starts in March.

Nadine wrote: "Sara wrote: "I'm really looking forward to the prompts for 2020. And I know a lot of people have already started, but I am going to wait until January. "


ARE a lot of people already started? I’ve..."

I keep seeing people on Facebook starting too. I'm definitely waiting until the first of the year, but I will say that having planned quite a few of the prompts, it is hard to wait, because I'm really looking forward to some of the books, and I will see them come available at the library and I want to snatch them up.

The other problem I'm having is that I start to read a book now, and I realize it will work for a 2020 prompt, so I keep feeling like I should put it aside, but its turning into every book I pick up. Apparently every book I want to read involves a journalist right now...never noticed that before.

Happy Thursday Everyone! It's the end of the week and I'm anxious for Friday for so many reasons. I'll be a vendor at an event tomorrow. One of my hobbies, is jewelry making and I have an Etsy store as well. I've been making items to sell so I really haven't read much.

I finished 2 books this week:
Darkside Zodiac: ScorpioA book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title and Snow, Glass, Apples A book that includes a wedding. My plan was to read another book for this prompt but I remembered the wedding in it.

QOTW: I'm going to surpass my Goodreads challenge but I most likely won't finish Popsugar. I'll come close but I won't finish. I was agonizing over it but I decided not to stress about it so much. I'm just gonna enjoy the challenge.

QoW: I would like to finish my Back to Classics challenge. All I need is 1 Russian or German classic and a 1800s classic. I keep having library holds come in, though, that don’t fit these 2 categories! I’m so close...

QOTW: I did the ATY challenge with graphic novels this year. I have one prompt left: A book published in 2019. I like to own graphic novels before reading them so I didn't have one on hand. Just ordered one from amazon and should be here next week!

Happy Thursday Everybody! :)

This week I finished another 5 books and also realized that my 2 non-challenge reads from earlier this year could be easily slotted into my 2019 challenge so my current progress is up to 39/53! =) I should be able to finish 14 more books before 2020 (but some of the ones left on my pile are fairly lengthy; at least 5 of the ones left are over 500 pages and a couple are 400+ as well, so we'll see)! XD

Read This Week

Misery by Stephen King for 3) A Book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction) ⭐️⭐️ This was my 2nd King novel, and while I thought it was infinitely better than Carrie⭐️, I still didn't really care for the writing or the story! I was quite bored during the Misery story bits. I think perhaps Mr. King's books just aren't my jam and I'll probably avoid them in the future.

Circe by Madeline Miller for 12) A Book inspired by mythology, legend or folklore ⭐️⭐️ This is a story that you can appreciate without having an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology however I found it, at times, to be very dull and just okay overall. I especially disliked the ending, that (view spoiler)[ it was simply a daydream that Circe has and not actual events within the story. (hide spoiler)]

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer for 15) A Retelling of a classic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is definitely not the Cinderella story you'd expect! I'm excited to continue with the series! :) Scarlet is part of my remaining 2019 reads - yay!

True Enough (Heartland #11) by Lauren Brooke for 37) A Book with a 2-word title ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5 Stars) This was less fluffy than I expected it to be for a Middle-Grade book! I remember seeing the CBC show episode based on this novel and thinking it was just okay. The novel did this chunk of the story in SUCH a better way! I love that this one touches on different forms of mental illness and I love that Ty takes a more emotionally supportive role than he does in the TV show in this episode.

The Midnight Star (The Young Elites #3) by Marie Lu for 33) A Book with a Zodiac sign or astrology term in the title ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this and felt the conclusion to the series was certainly just but found it a little disappointing compared to the first two books in the trilogy! This book had so much less action and a lot of events that were at times difficult to follow that seemed to defy the rules of logic and reason even for this fictional realm. I wish that there was more of a fitting explanation for some things for sure!

Added into my Challenge..
There were 2 books I read earlier this year as non-challenge reads that I decided to slot into unfinished prompts this week :)

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon for 6) A Book with a plant in the title or on the cover ⭐️⭐️ completed Aug. 5, 2019 I have no issue with the plot of this book, more-so the lack of character development. This book touches on some very heavy issues but does so in such an unrealistic and nonchalant way at times and as a reader I found that disappointing & frustrating. It's the sort of book that reads like what I would classify as "fluff" - meaning light and breezy - but I was really hoping for so much more with all the issues the characters in the book are faced with. As someone who lives with a chronic illness myself, I was really unhappy with Maddy's character in particular since I found a lot of her thoughts & actions to be so unrealistic but several characters to me seemed more one dimensional and flat since the author didn't explore what they might be feeling beyond the surface or how the protagonists' situations would seriously impact their lives, especially all their relationships. :(

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles #1) by Patrick Rothfuss for 17) A Book set on a college/university campus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ completed Sept. 23, 2019 I really enjoyed this but am disappointed that the third book in the series has yet to release (and may never) so I probably won't continue with book #2, especially since this didn't end with a massive cliffhanger.

Currently Reading

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas Loving this so far but I can't really go into why without getting spoilery!

QotW

Yes! I'm going to attempt to finish out my 2019 Popsugar Challenge despite only starting casually in August with several weeks of no reading since! It's going to be close! - 39/53 atm

Heather just pointed out that The Immortalists was a previous group read. I messed up, because I don’t always participate in the group reads i didn’t remember these two. I had forgotten to check for previous group reads and added that title AND The Hate U Give (to the other poll) by mistake to start off our nomination polls.

In the past the group has agreed not to re-read a past group read. That’s still our philosophy.

(I think) I can edit the polls to remove those, but people have already voted to nominate both and I don’t want to delete votes. If you voted for one of them, probably the best plan is to go back and changed your nomination vote.

What are the group’s thoughts?

Here are our past group reads - there are several other WOC authors on the list, so I figured it might help to include the full list here in case anyone is considering nominating one of these:

Monthly Group Reads

1912 The Starless Sea
1911 Challenger Deep
1910 The Graveyard Book
1909 A Discovery of Witches
1908 The Wife Between Us
1907 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
1906 Crazy Rich Asians
1905 This is How It Always Is
1904 The Witch Elm
1903 Where’d You Go Bernadette?
1902 To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
1901 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
1812 Circe
1811 The Immortalists
1810 Hallowe’en Party
1809 Hamilton: The Revolution
1808 The Night Circus
1807 The Woman in Cabin 10
1806 Middlesex
1805 Turtles All the Way Down
1804 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
1803 The Handmaid’s Tale
1802 Beartown
1801 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
1712 The Hate U Give
1711 Sourdough
1710 The Bear and the Nightingale
1709 The Color Purple
1708 The Snow Child
1707 Station Eleven
1706 The Woman in Cabin 10
1705 The Book Thief
1704 We Were Liars
1703 Hidden Figures
1702 The Underground Railroad
1701 The Winter People

Happy Thursday, y’all!

I'm also surprised at how many people on the Facebook group are starting early... but hey, nobody's grading this challenge, right? I'm also shocked that a few of the prompts are causing such huge issues with people. I hate seeing fights break out in a community I love... :(

Books read this week:

Flypaper - creepy psychological thriller about a horror writer dealing with psycho fans and a clingy girlfriend who turns out to be something worse. Not Stephen-King caliber of writing, but still a nicely chilling read and kept me riveted to the end.

Fierce Winds and Fiery Dragons - I downloaded this as a Kindle freebie knowing it was a juvenile-fiction fantasy… I guess it was a little more kid-oriented than I expected. And even then, despite being cute in places, it was fairly blah. Writing for kids doesn’t mean you don’t have to try to write well, authors…

Only Human -- final book in the Themis Files trilogy. While I think the “journal and interview” format is the wrong format for action sequences, I am glad to see this volume tie up the series and continue to develop the characters. Very satisfying completion to the trilogy.

Currently Reading:

Machineries of Joy
Waking the Merrow
The Speed of Dark

QOTW:

I have yet to hit my Goodreads reading goal this year, but seeing as I'm only six books away from meeting it, I think I can manage it. Might need to find a couple shorter books, though...

Nadine wrote: "Heather just pointed out that The Immortalists was a previous group read. I messed up, because I don’t always participate in the group reads i didn’t remember these two. I had forgotten to check fo..."

I only remembered The Immortalists because I lead the group discussion. I wouldn't expect you to remember 3 years of group reads! I mentioned it in case changing votes was an option.

I like the new format for nominations. I hope it ends up being an easier method. Writing in a vote was fun :)

Hello All, This is a several week check in after about 4 heavy dumps of snow since the beginning of October and putting winter tires and doing winter maintenance on what seems like all of the vehicles in our town of Okotoks, Work wise we are starting to slow down (It is December and peoples minds have switched to Christmas, vehicle maintenance be damned)

Having said all that I haven't had much time for reading. I did Finish:

The Ritual in October for the prompt a novel set in Scandinavia. This is a good read which I should have not read any reviews before I read it as everyone was complaining about (view spoiler)[ how the novel changes direction half way through (hide spoiler)] so I was more focused on that instead of just enjoying the story as it unfolded. It was a very intense read and I really did enjoy it.

The Heart of Falcon Ridge again in October a quick brain candy read, for no real reason

Souljacker beginning of November for the prompt of past popsugar challenge (new book from a favorite authour) It was okay I read a 19 book series from this authour and I got really invested in the characters and was looking for more of the same but I just could not connect with any of these new ones. But she has lots of other books so I will keep trying.

Bunny late november for the prompt a book set at university/ college. I do have to say that I am not a big fan of the whole mind challenge, not sure what way is up or down type stories and I have read a few (Bellevue Square was another) So what can I say it was different. It wasn't till after I had finished this book that I realized I have read 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by this authour and was not a big fan of it either.

Currently reading Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography for the choose your own adventure prompt. I like Neil Patrick Harris, biographies and choose your own adventure books. So it should be a good one.

QOTW
Well I have 22 more prompts left in the 2019 challenge soooo

but I am going to keep going with the books I have planned to read, finish the ones I can, and then hope they fit in a prompt for the 2020 challenge.

Cheers
Happy Reading everyone.

Hello and happy December! My favorite month ❤️
I’m in the final crunch. I’ve exhausted all my audiobook options and I have a few physical books left to finish by the end of the year. It’s hard for me to find time to sit and read since I’ve started nail tech classes so my options lately have been to stay up too late to finish books. Oh well, what’s some sleep deprivation when you get the satisfaction of saying you finished five reading challenges in one year (popsugar, book riot, back to the classics, Marisha Pessl’s challenge, and I did the goodreads summer challenge). I am officially done with the classics challenge as of this week! I was concerned that’d be the one I’d procrastinate too much on. I made a little graphic for Instagram if you care for the full list lol

View post on imgur.com

Honeybee for book riot. This was what I want Rupi Kaur to be, I’m glad I switched to this instead of Kaur’s second book. This was essentially poetry about bisexuality and the author moving on from her ex girlfriend who clearly meant a great deal to her. It was lovely, I think I spent the whole evening I read this sending pictures of her poems to my boyfriend because they were all so heartachingly sweet.

Middlemarch my final book in the back to the classics challenge. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this particular novel but it wasn’t what I read. That said, I throughly enjoyed it! I find the longer a classic is the more I get into it.

Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 for book riot. Raise your hand if you were obsessed with Sailor Moon as a kid 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️. I never actually read the mangas though, so this was obviously the perfect fit for a manga prompt. A fun, quick read that makes me want to rewatch the series and relive my nerdy childhood years.

In Pieces for Marisha Pessl’s challenge. I love reading celebrity biographies and autobiographies and I’d seen Sally Field’s recommenced a lot. This broke my heart but also just made me love her so much more. Growing up she was like the ultimate celebrity mom in my head, her life story just endeared her more to me.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson for Marisha Pessl’s challenge. I had started this book years ago and finally decided to pick it back up since it fit a prompt. Not my favorite John Green moment but not bad. This was almost too young adult-y for me to enjoy.

The Islands of Chaldea for the popsugar two female authors prompt. This was started by Diana Wynne Jones (she wrote Howl's Moving Castle) but didn’t complete it before her death, so her sister Ursula Jones finished it. DWJ wrote amazing magical fantasy books that are so dear to my heart, I’m glad I read her last bit of magic. It is a fun story about wise women (think witches or healers) going on a journey to save a kingdom and having adventures along the way. Very fun and as always, pure magic to read.

The Pink Suit for Marisha Pessl’s challenge. This is a fictional back story behind Jackie Kennedy’s famous pink suit. It was enjoyable, most definitely more about the women who made the suit and the shop it was made in. If you enjoy fashion, you’ll probably like this as the book was essentially a love letter to the detail to attention that goes into couture fashion.

Follow Me In also for Marisha Pessl’s challenge. This is an astonishingly lovely graphic novel. This isn’t the kind of illustrations I’m used to seeing in a graphic novel but they’re very good. The story is about the authors months spent traveling across Mexico with her boyfriend. It delves partly into their relationship and his alcoholism but it’s mostly about the travel and some history about Mexico and it’s landmarks. I found this randomly at the library and I’m so glad I did. I’ll probably buy a copy, I liked it that much.

Killer by Nature not for a challenge, I’m just going through my audible originals while I’m in the car or otherwise doing something. This one was a mini drama/thriller about a forensic psychologist trying to figure out an apparent copy cat killer of one of her patients. Kinda suspenseful, kinda blah. I wasn’t too interested in this one but it kept me engaged enough that I finished it.

The Last Days of August another audible original, not for the challenge. This one was truly fascinating, I couldn’t stop listening to it. A project of Jon Ronson (he wrote The Men Who Stare At Goats and So You've Been Publicly Shamed), he started to look into the suicide of porn star August Ames, since her death was being attributed to an incident on Twitter that got out of hand. But as he looks into the situation, he starts to unravel a lot of information that makes you second guess what was really going on in her life. Genuinely very interesting, if you loved podcasts like Serial you’re most definitely going to want to check this out.

Phew. That’s it for this week lol. I’m at 180 books this year. 38/40;8/10 for popsugar, 23/24 for book riot, 35/37 for Marisha Pessl, and 12/12 for back to the classics.

Qotw: mostly just to finish the last few books I have

Hi everyone. I'm feeling really run down at the moment and I'm hoping I can be back to normal in time for Christmas

This week I didn't finish anything. I started Spellwright but put it on pause because it would be perfect for the made up language prompt next year

Currently reading: The Amber Spyglass. I'm officially into single figures on the library wait list for The Secret Commonwealth so I thought I'd squeeze in a re-read.

QOTW: No more reading goals at the moment, just looking forward to next year.

I haven't started any books for next year but I have got an 800+ page book which I might start a couple of weeks early. There's no way I'll finish it before next year

Complete side note: The Thorn of Emberlain came up as available to request from my library. How? I have no idea but I added my name to the list! I really don't understand what is going on because there's no release date anywhere so I don't get it, but I'm hoping it's a good sign

Hello everyone. I can't believe how fast time is flying these last two months. Only one more week of school!!!! I am so excited. I have a lot of work for my finals but I am unbelievably excited to be done for a bit. It's overwhelming.

34/40 Regular
8/10 Advanced

Currently Reading


kind of dropping off on this one. It's good but I don't have time right this second (have to get Hogfather done for my book club)



QotW:
Do you have any reading goals left to achieve in 2019?
I have 8 more books to read!!! I finish finals on the 15th. Can I finish 8 books in that amount of time? I have no idea!!!!

@Sarah, I found a release date for 17 september 2020 on a reliable bookseller site. But not on the publisher's website.

...It's in Danish but 'udgivelsesdato' means release date
https://www.saxo.com/dk/the-thorn-of-...

Johanne wrote: "...It's in Danish but 'udgivelsesdato' means release date
https://www.saxo.com/dk/the-thorn-of-......"

Thanks. Great detective work! It is so far away though...

I missed check-in last week, but that was no big loss as I hadn't finished anything! Two finished this week though, taking me to 51/55 (41/45, 10/10).

My first finished book was for prompt #11 an item of clothing or accessory on the cover, Damaged Gods: Cults And Heroes Reappraised by Julie Burchill.

Julie Burchill seems to have built her career around being problematic, often without cause. I first heard of her when I saw the tv adaptation of Sugar Rush and was aware of her as a name in the British journalism/opinion world. So when i came across her being interviewed I was...confused. She sounded like a bit of an idiot, impulsively throwing out shocking statements that didn't always even relate to what she was talking about and seemed to be just to make her seem like some enfant terrible. Maybe she was just bored with the interview...but she made me itchy. My mum had this book kicking about, so I gave it a shot. And to be honest, my thoughts on Burchill haven't improved after reading. All I got from this is that she hates everyone, every cultural sub-group, every race, every country. I get that she's smashing the myths around major historical figures and movements, and I did find that very interesting. But in the process she was just spraying out bile in every direction, and it got to be quite a slog to wade through it. That's not to say this book isn't good, in its way. It's very well researched and fascinating for a reader who doesn't know certain things about, say, teen culture through the ages or the figures of the black civil rights movements. But even making exceptions for how dated this book and its (now quite offensive) language are, it is an uncomfortable read. Even when she is apparently championing a cause, she will pull out the absolute most vile turn of phrase which shows that all her research can't quite shroud either her ignorance or her almost desperate desire to be seen as edgy.

My second book was for prompt #39 revolving around a puzzle or game - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. The more I read, and the more diverse that reading is, the more I realise how very ignorant I am. This book is a case in point - I didn't know even a tiny bit of how Korea came to be separated, or how it had been colonised by the Japanese before that. I also couldn't have imagined the treatment of Koreans in Japan, both at the time of colonisation right through the 20th century (and, I assume, beyond). And even though this book has opened my eyes and taught me so much more than a school history course ever did, I know there is so much more to know. However, this book is a pretty deep dive into how it was to live as a Korean in colonised Korea, as a Korean immigrant in Japan, and as multiple generations of Korean-Japanese, as it follows four generations of the same family through the majority of the 1900's. But it isn't dry, mainly because history is the context rather than the focus. The family is the true topic of this book, and it is a family that will stay with me for a long time. It's funny, because my one real criticism of this book is that I never felt I really knew a majority of the characters. The timescale of the novel and size of the cast meant that few individuals were allowed the space to fully develop. But now that I've finished the book, that seems less of a key factor for me, because the bigger picture of the family struggles, strength, heartache and bonds is much more satisfying than drilling down on any one person. I felt the deaths of many of the characters throughout the novel were handled in quite emotionless ways (he died, he never saw her again), which jarred me considerably. But now I can appreciate that this is the way of family trees. We do see the impacts of the lives more than the deaths on the other characters and surely that is what a person should be - their life rather than their death. This novel is more like a series of snapshots of pivotal moments in the history of a family, like going through the photo album rather than reading the journal. But it absolutely works.


QOTW - Do you have any reading goals left to achieve in 2019?

I've not finished any of my four challenges yet. I've got six books left to read, so it'll be down the wire! Four will finish PS, three for ATY, two for Reading Women and one for Modern Mrs Darcy.

@Thorn-of-Emberlain Sarah, yes it's a long way off but the fact it has a publication date is positive. I've only read the 1st book so I can spread it out :)

Oh yeah and thanks for the Spellwright rec, that sounds like something I'll enjoy.

Shannon wrote: "I don't have much to update on this morning. I had some lofty goals of finishing 2-3 books this past week and I finished...none. I'm slowly easing off my antidepressants, and I went through a break..."

So glad to see that you are working on taking care of yourself during this transition period! Adjusting medication can be quite a trial! And I'm so sorry you've had additional emotional stress right now. I am hoping for smoother (less traumatic) times in your immediate future!

@Pachinko-Sarah, a classic case of 'the more I learn, the less I know', and this is so true.

Johanne wrote: "@Thorn-of-Emberlain Sarah, yes it's a long way off but the fact it has a publication date is positive. I've only read the 1st book so I can spread it out :)

Oh yeah and thanks for the Spellwright ..."

I like your way of specifying Sarahs lol

I only read a couple of chapters of Spellwright, so finger's crossed it ends up being good!

Well happy Thursday everyone. Suddenly it's December and I'm now starting to stress about Christmas. But I've got a Christmas Movie Party to go to this weekend, so that should be fun.

Books I Finished:

Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing - Okay, so I guess the fact that I'm a nerd is kinda obvious because I saw a book about a statistical look at popular and classic fiction and thought "That sounds fun". It was interesting enough, but nothing special or particularly interesting.

Zombies Vs. Unicorns - A fun short story anthology, although I must confess, I'm totally on team unicorn.

Every Heart a Doorway - I liked this even better on rereading it.

Books I made progress on:

Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery

QOTW
I've got 2 books left for Popsugar and 4 for Goodreads but I should be able to get those done no sweat.

Sooo...

I'm here in this coffee shop, waiting for book club. Reading and posting. I check The Starless Sea December read along thread and think, hmmm, did I shelve it as a favorite or not? so I go to the page to check and see under Erin's books there are three. She does not have three! Of course I check that out and found a gold mine!

Each Friday for five years, she used a friend's photo as inspiration for a ten sentence story, which she posted on her blog. There are 261.

You can find them here
http://erinmorgenstern.com/writing/fl...

I wish I knew they would last me until her next book, but alas, I know that not to be true.

Thanks to taking almost all of last week off and visiting friends who are readers (there were afternoons when everyone in the house was sitting in the living room reading a book), I actually finished some reads!

Finished:
Shadow of Night - for PBT November Trim challenge - so disappointing - basically an overlong romance set mostly in Elizabethan England with paranormal aspects. Not sure I'll read the 3rd in the series.

The Secret Footprints - a delightful children's book by the acclaimed Dominican author Julia Alvarez, with gorgeous illustrations by Fabian Negrin - about the Cigaupas of Dominican Republic legend - beautiful people who live in underwater caves and have feet on backwards. Read for PBT December Horizons challenge.

This Christmas - 3 novellas by different authors set at Christmas with more mature couples facing relationship hurdles. Quite nice, not spicy at all. This was my PBT December monthly theme and December Flurry challenge read.

A Wizard of Earthsea - past time I read this classic -- and it's a gem. Read this for my PBT December Trim challenge.

Yes - all my official challenge reads are done - except I need to finish reading Troilus & Cressida - Shakespeare - for AtY. So what will I read for the rest of the year?

Proust. I am behind and the next discussion group meeting is looming. Need to buckle down. Work is interfering though, big time, on my available reading time, and Proust is a slow read. It is work - wonderful, fabulous, love it, but work.

QOTW: So my reading goals to finish out 2019:

Primary: Catch up on Proust reading for discussion group, finish AtY challenge, and read as much Christmas-set fiction as I can squeeze in -- mostly romance and cozy mystery!

Secondary: Read 4 books I need to read in order to finish my personally 'expanded' PS challenge -- meaning 1 book for each 'choice' in a prompt where we had to read only one. For example, I just need to read a book with 'sugar' and one with 'bitter' in the title to have read one for each choice in that prompt, and read a South American book and an African book to complete that prompt. I have plenty of options in my personal library. Whether I finish that goal all depends on how quickly I can read 500+ pages of Proust.

Both Primary and Secondary are doable - especially since I'm taking vacation starting December 21, and have no real plans to do anything else initially but read!

December is moving too fast already. So much to do!

I finished five books this week, well four and a short story:

The Encore: A Memoir in Three Acts by Charity Tillemann-Dick - 4 stars; ATY #33 (book owned for at least a year)
The author of this book tells her story of being an opera singer, getting a somewhat rare and incurable illness called pulmonary hypertension, and having two lung transplants. As I have this same illness (although not quite at such a horrifying level), I have been wanting to read this book and dreading it as well. The author passed away in April, which made it even more difficult to read. But as November was Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month, I figured it was time. I'm glad I finally got to it. In case you aren't aware (and I wasn't when I was diagnosed), pulmonary hypertension occurs when the pressure in the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your lungs is higher than normal. This means that your heart has to work harder to pump blood into the lungs, which will likely damage both your heart and your lungs. And now you are aware, and I've done my part.

Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden - 3 stars; PS #10 (book with Sugar in title)
I had a Pop and a Challenge book, so figured I should finish out the prompt. This book was okay, and I'm going to get the sequel from the library because I'm interested enough to see what happens to the characters. But I don't highly recommend.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - 5 stars; PS #23 (set in Scandinavia)
This wasn't my original intention for this category, but I needed a short book. Glad I picked this one up. I don't believe I've ever read a WWII story set in Denmark. While this was a fairly simplistic story as it is written for a middle grade audience, I really loved it.

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer - 4 stars; not for challenge
This is the second book of the Renegades series. It has taken me longer to get into this series than the Lunar Chronicles, but I'm firmly there now and am impatient to get the next one from the library. Fun YA fantasy about those with superpowers.

The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern - 4 stars; short story
I started the Christmas season off by reading the short story that became the basis of "It's a Wonderful Life." Short and sweet.

GoodReads - 87/90 (bumped up from 80)
PopSugar - 45/47, 8/10
ATY - 51/52

QOTW:
I'm close to finishing my challenges, and it is likely to be down to the wire. I have my regular monthly reads that I try to fit in (Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, a next in series, a new release, a book from my own created well-read list or a Pulitzer Prize winner), but PopSugar and ATY will be my focus.

Hi! I used to post in this weekly thread religously, but have been lurking this year. Maybe I can get back into the habit in 2020. I am trying to finish up some library books, but kind of lagging. The end of the semester is such a stressful time, even reading feels onerous sometimes. :(
But, I just finished the audiobook of Brown Girl Dreaming, which was lovely. My goals for the end of the year are to finish AtY (5 more books) and hit 40 for popsugar (3 more to go). That will put me over my total goal of 140 for the year. If there’s time, I’ll knock out some library holds that don’t fit my January plans to make space in my holds list for 2020!

Heya. Nothing much to report this week - went to see Frozen 2 at the cinema, it was decent. Pretty middling for a Disney movie, not quite as good as the first. Really gorgeous visually though. Considering buying the art book.

2 books completed this week.

Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide - Great graphic memoir / queer history book. Had a few quibbles, for example, speech bubbles could be hard to follow in scenes with more than a few sentences of dialogue, and some of the characters were drawn similarly enough that I lost track of who was who. All in all though would definitely recommend to readers interested in British LGBTQ+ history.

Girl, Woman, Other - Flew through this. Amazing. Definitely deserved to win the Booker and - no disrespect to Atwood - to be the sole winner. I am still trying to collect my thoughts about it. It was just... an explosion. And the character writing, my god. You have 12 protagonists in a ~450pg book and somehow manage not only to tell a full life story with each of them but also interweave those stories perfectly?! Freaking masterpiece.

I love when I find a new writer so great that I just want to scream at them, "how make words do this? how???" like a Neanderthal cavepainter looking at a Michelangelo.

Currently reading, on a totally different note, Minecraft: The End. I have never played Minecraft. I know nothing about it. I am slightly confused. But it's Catherynne Valente's brand-new release, so obviously I'm going to read it anyway. It's not bad.

QotW: Yeah, but at this point I'm not gonna. Still haven't finished Popsugar or AtY.
I would like to get to 200 books read this year, which might be achievable.

Cendaquenta wrote: "Girl, Woman, Other - Flew through this. Amazing. Definitely deserved to win the Booker and - no disrespect to Atwood - to be the sole winner."

Literally everyone I have seen says this... except the Booker Prize committee. It's been on my list for a while but at this point I'm not getting to it til next year.