Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Anyone know when the 2021 prompts will be released?

Kara wrote: "Anyone know when the 2021 prompts will be released?"

December 1st. :)

December 1 is the official release date, with no word if they plan to tease the list like they did last year. I also haven't seen if it's a 40 prompt list or a 50 prompt list.

I did enjoy having a full day to contemplate and discuss each of those teaser prompts last year.

ATY has already released their prompts, and I'm planning to attempt both challenges this year and trying to attempt any seasonal challenges PS drops.

Looking forward to seeing if ATY prompts overlap with PS and my own wishlist of books I'd like to read in 2021.

I can't find the post any more on their fb group but it sounded like they would do 50 normal prompts if they dropped the advance ones. But a lot of people wanted to keep the advanced, so I guess we'll find out next week!

Ellie wrote: "I can't find the post any more on their fb group but it sounded like they would do 50 normal prompts if they dropped the advance ones. But a lot of people wanted to keep the advanced, so I guess we..."

they took a survey and the choices were, I think to
drop the advanced and just have 50
Have the advanced prompts themed to the year
Have the advanced prompts but no theme
Write in your own.

I wrote in my own suggestion of having the 10 advanced be themed to joy. We had such a crappy year. And next year will be even crappier, so I thought a little joy in reading would be a good idea.

They released a sneak peek on FB.

A book you think your best friend would love.

Thank you for the update, Katy!

Do you or anyone else in the group know if we should expect the article at midnight or during business hours tomorrow?

Brandon wrote: "Thank you for the update, Katy!

Do you or anyone else in the group know if we should expect the article at midnight or during business hours tomorrow?"

I think it came out around noon EST last year, give or take. But,t hey haven't specifically said.

Its here!
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen...

https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/fi...

This list has a lot of cool prompts, and some that I’m grimacing at. I’ll probably work on getting the list into a spreadsheet after a shower and breakfast, if nobody else has by then.

Oh I LOVE the advanced prompts theme this year! TBR prompts are my favorite!

Yay!! Love, love, love the advanced TBR prompts!!

I'm not crazy about the categories this year. I don't even know what some of them mean. Afrofuturist? Dark Academia? Magical realism?

I noticed that they also dropped a book you meant to read last year and a favorite from a prior category.

Katy wrote: "I'm not crazy about the categories this year. I don't even know what some of them mean. Afrofuturist? Dark Academia? Magical realism?"

I think Afrofuturist is any sci-fi that centers black people/nations. N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season would count, as would Onyebuchi's War Girls.

Dark academia is a book set in a school setting but, like, dark (in the sense of being sinister, or there is bad stuff going on, dark truths behind the curtain, that kind of thing). The Secret History is a dark academia classic even though it wasn't really my thing. A Deadly Education is great if you want a fantasy take on the genre.

Magical realism is kinda tough...I remember asking in this group "what is magical realism?" and a dozen people tried explaining it to me haha. It's a kind of fantasy with a bundle of associated traits:
- Usually written by Hispanic authors
- Takes place in the real world
- Things are mostly realistic except for a few magical elements
- It's got a kind of fairytale sensibility where people encounter magic and just roll with it / accept it as part of life. (In the REAL real world, if magic were discovered, people would freak out, there would be government coverups, etc. None of that happens in magical realism. They're just like "eh, the world be like that sometimes.")
- It's also fairytale-like because there's no attempt to have a magic system or rules. It's all mystical and vague and frequently symbolic.

Stiefvater's All the Crooked Saints is the only magical realism book I know off the top of my head, so I'm looking forward to see what others recommend.

Drakeryn wrote: "Katy wrote: "I'm not crazy about the categories this year. I don't even know what some of them mean. Afrofuturist? Dark Academia? Magical realism?"

I think Afrofuturist is any sci-fi that centers ..."

Beloved is magical realism. So are a lot of things by Isabel Allende.

There's also the troubling sense that Western writers have called what non-Western writers have done as magical realism, while their own Western works are fantasy. It's a careful line to navigate. See https://medium.com/swlh/for-the-last-... for a good take on it.

Drakeryn wrote: "Katy wrote: "I'm not crazy about the categories this year. I don't even know what some of them mean. Afrofuturist? Dark Academia? Magical realism?"

I think Afrofuturist is any sci-fi that centers ..."

A.S. King has also written a lot of Magical Realism. I would highly recommend Still Life with Tornadoes.

I have never heard the idea that it's "mostly Hispanic" authors. It's a book set in our world that follows the rules of our world with a few magical elements to it. It's just not flat out Fantasy.

Whitney wrote: "It's a book set in our world that follows the rules of our world with a few magical elements to it. It's just not flat out Fantasy."

This would be my definition as well: a book that is mostly realistic with just a touch of magic or the supernatural. Neil Gaiman immediately springs to mind.

Whitney wrote: "I have never heard the idea that it's "mostly Hispanic" authors." It's a book set in our world that follows the rules of our world with a few magical elements to it. It's just not flat out Fantasy.

Wikipedia says that magical realism is often associated with Latin-American literature, and I've heard online arguments about whether non-Hispanic people are allowed to label their books as magical realism or whether that counts as cultural appropriation. I'm very much not an expert but I was thinking I might find a Hispanic-authored book just to be safe.

Well. I can see I’m not going to as well as I did with this year’s list. Too many “restrictive” criteria, which is ironic since so many people this year have said it’s one thing they truly dislike. 😐