Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2021 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 46: 11/11 - 11/18
Good morning! We have been having cooler weather and it has been very pleasant. I spoke to my nephew (10) on the phone last night and he informed me that they had finished decorating the outside of the farmhouse for Christmas - They have a snowman that is taller than the roof of their front porch; I love it! My sister sent me a picture and it looks fantastic, although she has a few more surprises up her sleeve for them (she says there is a giant Santa on the way lol). Good reading week this week, and good challenge week as well. I'm at 42/50 for the challenge.
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht - did not love, too fantastical for magical realism, I used this as a book that won the women's prize for fiction
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo - beautiful book of poetry, used for book by an indigenous author
The Dinner by Herman Koch - this should really be in the horror category, IMHO. Yikes! Used for a book set in a restaurant, as the story took place over a dinner.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin - inspiring, truthful, very powerful and still very relevant all these years later. Used as a book on a Black Lives Matter reading list
What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - such a fun and informative children's book. Used as a book by a Muslim American author
QOTW: I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked several categories. There were some that just took too much work to fill, and as you say I was still unsure after all that whether the book truly fit. Also I was trying to use books from my TBR or the library (Libby), and again just such a difficult task once I'd actually found a book that worked to find it in either of those places.
Oxymoron and Locked Room Mystery were on the list of difficult to find a match. My locked room mystery was billed as a locked room mystery on several lists and on the cover, but the window was open so I call nonsense. Afrofuturist had such a controversial list - this is, this isn't, this is, this isn't - I just finally picked something that had the least controversy. Longest book, prettiest book, and ugliest book were on the list of difficult to choose - prettiest and ugliest just ended up being pretty and not pretty because I don't even like that kind of judgement. Also I'm running out of formats that I don't read, so I need that category to stop. And I was very unhappy to have another category where I had to look at someone else's books - this time a bookshelf, and by the way even though there are lots of those shown on TV, it's usually to blurry to properly see what's up there (and find something either already on my bookshelf or in Libby). And imagine my horror to learn that in 2022, a challenge I was planning to do again has another category where I have to look at someone else's books.
So that's my laundry list of complaints. 8 more books to go in the challenge, and one of those the longest book, so fingers crossed.
Happy Thursday from rainy northeast Ohio!I don't feel like I got much read this week, although I did finish Fullmetal Alchemist (finally, after having started reading the manga in 2014) so that's something!
Audio-wise, I've hit a full reading slump... although I might blame that on drowning in amazing new music releases, between Taylor Swift and Silk Sonic and Adele and and and. I have a stack of audiobooks (can you have a stack, since they're not physical books?) but my brain wanted a break and has not been interested in any of them all week.
I also spent yesterday educating myself about the "feud" between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon - one of my favorite ongoing comedy bits (it's been going on for over a decade, probably closer to 15yrs at this point). Time well spent, lemme tell you.
Finished:
Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 19-27 - 5 stars across the board, and for this entire series. Funny, heartbreaking, an incredible rendering of the cost and trauma of war and hubris, and redemption. Time to go finish watching Brotherhood.
The Night Watchman - 3 stars. Maybe not the best Louise Erdrich starter book; the narrative was disjointed and broken up by a lot of small tangents and wasn't quite my thing. Unfortunate, but you can't love everything!
Currently:
Sandman #6 - Fables & Reflections - This one lost me for a short while after/during the Roman segment and I set it aside but then Marco Polo showed up and now we're into the Orpheus myth and I'm all HADESTOWNNNNN
Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means - Barely at the 100-page mark in a 500+ page book. Oof.
PS 49/50
What has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
#7, where the MC works at your current/dream job - characters never work at my day job (I work in e-commerce) and I feel like too many books are about writers, so I got creative and tossed it over to my passion project in theatre. I loved Amberlough though and didn't expect it to work for any prompts, so that was fun.
#8, Women's Prize in Fiction - there are just so few books that have won this award, which makes it very restricting. Again, thankfully I loved Hamnet, but I definitely wouldn't keep this as a future prompt.
#13, Locked room mystery - A lot of the suggestion books were Agatha Christies, and I can't stand her LOL
#24, Muslim American author - again, unnecessarily restricting and I know a lot of us bent the rules because, why specifically American??
#30, Somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021 - Seeing as we're still (now coming up on 2022) pretty deep in a pandemic, this is nice for wishful thinking but it could've just been "somewhere you'd like to visit" and not have the year attached. (This probably shouldn't count as a "least favorite", I'm just griping now)
#31, Book by a blogger/vlogger/etc - I don't keep up with bloggers, and self-help books are one of my most-loathed "genres". No thanks.
Advanced - prettiest/ugliest covers - these are so subjective, which = frustratingggg lol
...wow, that's a bunch. Bahahahaha!
Happy Thursday, y’all.Still getting settled into my new place. It's quite different here, but so far it's been a change for the better in my book. Also this is the first year in a long time that I'm actually looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas -- both holidays used to be incredibly stress-filled for me, but I'm hoping now that I'm in a different place they'll be better.
Books read this week:
The Last Policeman -- interesting take on both the detective genre and the apocalyptic fiction genre. Rather melancholy throughout but I think that works in the book’s favor.
Comfort Me With Apples -- boy howdy, what a weird but strangely addictive little novella! Think Bluebeard meets The Girl on the Train meets the Book of Genesis -- yes, it’s that weird…
You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington -- probably my first and last presidential biography, haha… I guess I expected it to be more lighthearted judging by the title and cover, but I did appreciate that it gave us a deeper look at George Washington and portrayed him as human instead of as a mythic figure… and didn’t shy away from the fact that he owned slaves and didn’t always treat them well either.
The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Volume 3 -- graphic novel. Still loving this series, and the stakes have been raised higher by this latest installment!
Currently Reading:
Stinger
Skeleton Crew
The Man Who Watched the World End
The Beatryce Prophecy
QOTW:
"Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction" and "anonymous author" both just felt like such narrow categories, and I didn't particularly like my options for either one. And in both cases the books I picked for the prompts (Hamnet and The Epic of Gilgamesh) turned out to be fairly dull, though in the case of the last one I might have been better served picking up an adaptation instead of a literal translation...
Happy Thursday! My day was pretty good for me:) We have a dry season in here, it was great because I love summer. Yeah, the Goodreads Choice Awards are open and I already voted! I like the choices except in Mystery and Romance. This month, I am currently reading my book.Question of the week
What has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
- I think my least favorite Popsugar prompt is a book that was published Anonymously, a book with a black and white cover, a book whose title starts with "Q" or "X" or "Z", and a book about Art or an Artist.
Happy Thursday! I am continuing my rereading of the Jack Daniels series. I am on book 13 now and will likely finish today. I got a 4 month Kindle Unlimited subscription for my birthday, so I have a list of books from there that I plan to start working on next. I had no idea that KU includes some audible books as well, so that was a treat for me. If anyone has KU suggestions, I'm definitely open to that and I just continue to wish every day that the 2022 prompts would come out. I am not a patient person.Other than multiple books in the Jack Daniels series, I also finished Close to the Bone. I really enjoyed another series by this author, but I did not enjoy this novella (an unpopular opinion, based on the reviews). Part of it was that I did not like the narrator of the audiobook, but there were just a lot of weird setting issues for me.
QOTW:
My least favorite prompt was a DNF from your TBR. There was a reason that I did not finish the book the first time. Also I don't like long books, so I wasn't thrilled about that prompt either, but I ended up enjoying the book that I read. I also didn't enjoy the Women's Prize for Fiction prompt, because it was too limiting and I didn't enjoy the book that I chose.
I made it to Thursday! The past two weeks have been tough but I hope things will lighten up soon. This week I finished:
Our Country Friends This was a mixed bag. Some great lines, some interesting scenes, but I got lost easily. 3 stars
Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance Yes! Loved this book. Highly recommend. 5 stars
Oh William! It took me a bit to get over the initial idea (a woman being best friends with her husband who cheated various times during their marriage), but once I could accept that it was pretty good. 3.5 stars
The Turnout This was interesting... I wanted to see it go somewhere else in the end and more focus on dance would have been nice, but oh well. 3 stars
What Storm, What Thunder This was a slow read, but worth it. I wish more books about Haiti got more attention. This is a great one! 5 stars
I'm currently reading Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New in print and listening to A Mind Spread Out on the Ground.
QOTW: I agree with the ones already mentioned. Since I do BIPOC-authored books only, some of these only had one or two options.
Too restrictive:
-'90s bestseller
-Women's Prize (there was only one option that I hadn't already read for this one)
-Anonymous author
-Oxymoron
-Locked room
Why would I want to do that?
-DNF on TBR
-Longest book on TBR (Like Nadine, I also prefer books to be shorter than longer. Sure, there are some long books I've loved, but I appreciate books that have the same impact in fewer pages.)
Don't like the word:
-"ugliest" book cover. Can't stand the word "ugly."
Lauren wrote: "Don't like the word:-"ugliest" book cover. Can't stand the word "ugly."..."
Same!!!
Mod
-"ugliest" book cover. Can't stand the word "ugly."..."
haha that was one category I definitely liked, because I had a book on my TBR that was always getting recommended, but I just couldn't bring myself to read it because I hated the cover. (Archangel) I was glad to finally have this push to read my ugly book. I ended up really disliking the book, but ... oh well! I got it off my TBR and now I know.
It's getting colder and I'm so excited! I don't like being cold but I love being cozy. Also, hot chocolate and apple cider? Love them! I hate fall but I'm excited for winter! (We'll see what our winter is like this year. Texas had a rough time last winter...)Also, has anyone been able to completely turn off the beta pages? I've submitted feedback about disliking the new pages, but it still automatically shows those pages and I have to turn it off every time. Is that true for others? Or is there a way to shut it fully off?
Finished:
Nothing
Currently Reading:
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music - I should get a good chunk of this done this weekend since I'm driving to my brother's. I realized I'm stretching the "longest book" prompt with this since it's a class (one of the Great Courses) not a book...but I don't care haha
The Bird King - I'm really enjoying this so far!
QOTW:
I replaced "book with a family tree" and "book by a vlogger, blogger, youtuber, etc" with prompts from previous years. I wouldn't say I hated those, I just couldn't find anything I actually wanted to read for them (and since those aren't meant to push me out of my comfort zone, I didn't mind not doing them).
As far as actual dislike, I didn't care for Women's Prize for Fiction and book set in a restaurant. Both of those it's because it was so restrictive - not many books on the prize list and finding a book set in a restaurant was just really hard.
Hey all! Life has been a little easier on my family the past couple weeks - keep your fingers crossed that we just got all our bad luck for the next 2 years over with at once!I'm loving the fall weather here in NC - the leaves are really changing, and driving my daughter to school we go through a veritable tunnel of red leaves - plenty still on the trees, but also drifts on the ground.
I also got a new (to me) car! Since they totaled our van, I got a chance to shop for something new, and went with a comparatively sporty and petite Honda CR-V. It's gorgeous and I love it. I'm going to decorate with a Star Wars theme because my daughter said the gear shift looks like the hyperdrive activator on the Smuggler's Run ride!
-- Finished --
Y'all, I finished all 53 hours of Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection and it was really good! Fry is such a wonderful reader and has a true passion for Holmes as well. Thus I have finished my --The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list -- prompt!
--Currently Reading--
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why - this is OK, but not thrilling so far.
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love - got the audiobook - like it so far, but I already got teary-eyed from the opening, so I'll probably go slowly since it's not a casual "pop it on and cook" experience for me!
The Quiche of Death - I'm sure I learned of this book from this group, and so far I'm really glad. It's not my usual genre, but I like that it has both coziness and some hard edges, and that Agatha is not an idealized character. I also like that she's not young, thin, and beautiful, which for some reason (romcoms with heroines moving to the country? Ambient Hallmark Christmas movie vibes?) I had thought she would be.
QOTW
Definitely Women's Prize for Fiction. Waaaayyyyy too restrictive. I broke the rules and read a nominee.
Generally speaking, I wish PopSugar would work to avoid very restrictive prompts or ones that are hard to discover. As others said, why a Muslim-AMERICAN author? And it can be hard to find out an author's birthplace or religion, you know?
Similarly, "oxymoron" would have been better as "contradiction" to widen the field, and locked-room needed rethinking as there's not really a good consensus on what that means!
That said, I've always approached this with a "my challenge, my rules" attitude and I get creative with interpreting prompts regardless.
I meant to say, too, that it was relatively thoughtless for them to have so many sight-based prompts (prettiest and ugliest, black and white, something broken), simply because there are plenty of sight-impaired individuals who like to participate. I tend to enjoy those prompts, but the sheer number of them seemed exclusionary. I felt the same about the "different format" one, since those who are sight-impaired likely can't do anything other than an audiobook. I know it's impossible to make every single prompt work for every single person, but there were just a high number that required sight to fulfill.
Hello! The Hugo deadline is tomorrow, and I did not read all the books I wanted to for it. I'll see if I can finish one more book, the last novella and possibly the novelettes (whatever that means). I have no idea how I'm going to pick only one for Best YA, as they were all so good.It is also snowing, again. It isn't sticking like it did on Saturday, but this is not okay.
Finished This Week:
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. Hugo nominee for Best New Author. After a certain point, the story got interesting enough that I got over the utter confusion at too many new words and baffling framing. But that point wasn't until like 57%. And when the book is almost 600 pages, that's too late for comprehension to finally kick in. Not for PS prompt.
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. Another Hugo nominee, for Best Novel. I am not the target audience for a novel about the boroughs of New York City becoming people. Or rather, a person becoming the embodiment of their borough. I have only been to New York City once and my husband actively hates the city. All said, it was an interesting plot and I was surprised by the outcome. Not for PS prompt.
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. Another Hugo nominee, for Best YA novel. I loved this. The main character is cursed by her mother to kill someone she's never met. The girl spends the rest of the book trying to break that curse, with some found family along the way. The story asks questions about if you can break out of the molds your parents put you into, while also touching on generational trauma and erasure of women from history. Other reviews tell me it's drawn from African stories and traditions. I've got the sequel on hold at the library. Not for PS prompt.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Another Hugo nominee for Best YA Novel. Rather than being set in a made up place, this one takes place at UNC Chapel Hill. The main character infiltrates a secret society on campus because she thinks they killed her mom. More generational trauma, both from the macro level of the legacy of slavery and the micro about what you pick up (intentional or not) from your parents. Plus King Arthur legends! Not for PS prompt, but there is a physical family tree in the story, if not a graphical one on the page.
PS: 46/50 RH; 19/24 RW: 22/28 ATY: 51/52 GR: 176/150
Currently Reading:
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. Another Hugo nominee, for Best New Author. I'm about halfway. Premise is that alternate worlds exist, but you can only travel to ones that are similar to your own (they have to resonate, to use their word), and the world will reject (try to kill) you as a traveler if the version of you on that world is still alive. So the company that manages the world hopping needs to find people who didn't grow up privileged, or came from areas with wars, because they're the least likely to have their other selves still be alive. Interesting so far.
QOTW: What has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
By far my least favorites have been the TBR prompts that have only one option: longest, oldest, shortest, prettiest, ugliest. I don't mind reading a long book. I enjoy long books. But don't tell me I have to read a particular long book, and only that one. Especially since they're all from your TBR shelves, making a book I learned existed in February with a gorgeous cover technically not eligible. I have 23 books read this year that I meant to read last year that I could use for prompt 46. But only one can be the longest, shortest, oldest, prettiest, ugliest, and it had to have been there already.
Aside from my complaining about the advanced prompts, I agree with everyone else about oxymoron, anonymous author and locked room mystery.
Hi all, I ended up so busy last week, I forgot to check in. oops! I think that's the first checkin in I've totally missed possibly ever, or at least in a long while. Took Friday off and did an early Thanksgiving with in-laws, but that meant Thursday was extra busy getting work done before a day off, and after work doing my usual dance class and packing.
Since last check in i finished:
The Sea of Monsters - finished audio re-read
The Women of the Copper Country - books & brew read, this triggered a lot of conversation, that ended up turning into a railing against capitalism rant by basically everyone which was kind of funny and satisfying. I liked it ok, but i would have enjoyed more if I read it at a different time of year. Just kind of serious and depressing to read right as the darkness starts ramping up and weather is getting wintery. Least favorite time of year, i want escapist reads.
Night and Silence - finally got to read this, picked it up in August and have been just trying to get challenge reads and library books caught up. Love the series so much.
Suffer a Sea-Change - novella in the back, I liked it. Nice to see all the events from Gillian's perspective.
The Unkindest Tide - i love the Luidaeg, so was happy she was so prominently in this one.
Hope is Swift - novella in the back, i liked seeing what Raj was up to while Toby and Tybalt were off.
Scarlet - audio re-read
The Tower of Nero - conclusion to the Trials of Apollo series, I liked it. I think the Heroes of Olympus is still my favorite of the series, but this was fun. I liked the idea of a god still being able to change as a person.
Currently reading:
Cress - audio re-read
A Spindle Splintered - the book club i run's current pick. I haven't actually started, but I will at lunch.
QOTW:
I wasn't really thrilled with the prompt list this year. It seemed fine when I read through it, but once I actually started trying to fill prompts, it was just so restrictive. Usually I free-read early in the year and have no problem slotting in books. I was having to use the gimme prompts in February because the books wouldn't fit anywhere. Honestly I didn't even have problems with some of the ones people didn't like. For example, I read a LOT of books by internet personalities. THe nightvale people write a bunch of books, not just nightvale related. I have books by Cracked authors. I don't like the adventure zone podcast, but I like their graphic novels. I love Jenny Lawson's books. etc.
But I had a lot of problems finding a good black and white book that seemed appealing. I think my brain just got stuck on that. When it was a pink cover, I had no problem picking a book that had a mostly pink background with other colors. For some reason "black and white" just felt like it had to be ONLY black and white, no color pop. So i probably made it more difficult than I needed.
I really wasn't a fan of the TBR prompts, at least as written. I don't keep a literal tbr. If i want to read a book, I look for it at the library and put it on hold, or put a price watch on the kindle version. otherwise I read what I feel like on a whim, or as something catches my eye for a challenge. I used books I bought but haven't read as my tbr, but even then, the way the prompts were worded were frustrating. A lot of my unread books I haven't read yet because maybe they caught my eye when I got them, but then i never actually found the right mood and thus i don't really WANT to read them now. For physical books I eventually get rid of them, but kindle books just kind of remain. So for oldest book, I ended up reading a Piers Anthony book that I bought on a book sale before i decided I was just done with him. Reading it reminded me WHY i decided I was done with him. I also didn't really care for the prettiest/ugliest, that's so arbitrary.
Also not really a fan of books that rely on others. Like the bookshelf prompts, books best friend would like, or remind me of someone or whatever. I just kind of cheated for bookshelf using friends goodreads shelves. I used the best friend one as a gimmie because she and i have semi similar taste, so i just picked a book I wanted to read and figured she'd probably like it. I might have pointed it out to her, i don't even remember. We talk books, but we both tend to kind of read our own things.
We live in a 4-year old house. And this week, suddenly the stucco was coming off the ceiling! It's just a small spot, about 20 cm and feels a bit humid, not much. We have absolutely no idea where it is coming from, no pipes or anything located above it. The pro from the insurance company had no clue either, so next week a ‘leak detective’ will try to find where the water is coming from. You don’t expect leaks in a new home, it’s so weird!! At least it’s in the hall, so I don’t have to look at it all day…Reading is a bit slowing down, but I picked up 2 books at the library today, so I hope to read a bit more this weekend.
Finished
Nothing.
Currently reading
Queen by Alex Haley
QOTW
I agree with most of you that some prompts were too restrictive. Having said that, my least favorite prompts were #2, an Afrofuturist book and #19, a book that discusses body positivity. These were hard to fill and I don't like futurist books and I don't get the fuzz about body positivity.
Finished: Design the Life You Love: A Guide to Thinking About Your Life Playfully and with Optimism Fun, but didn't provide amazing insights.The Philosophy of Childhood Problematized the developmental model of childhood. I really liked this one!
Daughter of the Deep Rick Riordan goes sci-fi. There was too much gadgetry for me and I've never read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, only seen the play halfway through. It might have meant more if I was more familiar with the original story.
Started: Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing The beginning was amazing. Seems to be heading in the direction of most self-help books, aka. forgettable.
Qotw: Haven't we already done this question? It feels familiar. My least favorite prompt was published by someone anonymously. It seemed like everybody (mis)interpreted it as written pseudonomynously which I would have been fine with as a prompt. But that wasn't the prompt. I ended up re-reading Gilgamesh for it, so that was fine because it was an easy read. I also had trouble with the longest on your TBR shelf, which surprised me because I don't usually mind reading long books. But I got partway through the second volume of Remembrance of Things Past and couldn't finish it. Ended up counting all of the Harry Potters for this prompt, so that was a fun way to make it count!
I’m starting to think that it’s possible I can finish the challenge after all! I have 7 more books to read, which I think I can do. I found a list of short audiobooks, and since I saved most of my “freebie” categories (favorite past prompt, a book your best friend would like, etc) for the end, I can fit them in almost anywhere. That does mean I’m reading a lot of books I wouldn’t have normally chosen, so my enjoyment is varying, but it’s not a bad thing to read outside my comfort zone either.Finished
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (a book everyone has read but you). I don’t know if everyone has read this book, but I’ve heard a lot of people talk about it. I liked it a lot. Stories don’t have to be long to pack a punch.
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson (a book you’ve seen on someone else’s bookshelf). I listened to it without reading a summary first. I didn’t realise the narrator would be so young, but it works. It’s definitely not something I would have picked out for myself because of the football plot, but the writing was good.
Reading
Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabalandon (the longest book on your TBR). This book is going to be the death of me. I’ve been reading it off and on for over a month now. I should have read the longest book on my TBR first this year.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (a book by an Indigenous author)
QOTW
I thought “a book that won the Women’s Prize for Fiction” was too narrow. I ended up reading a nominee. I felt like a lot of prompts overlapped in unexpected ways for me this year. The only author I was interested in reading for my Zodiac sign (Cancer) was Lisa Jewell and the only book by her my library had available had something broken on the cover. The longest book on my TBR is the only book I’ve read this year to feature three generations. It’s been a pretty frustrating challenge for me this year!
Mod
I have been so cold lately - every year at this time of year it takes me weeks and weeks to adjust. I've been stuffing heating pads in my pants and drinking hot cocoa just to warm up, and I am bundled up AND have the heat turned up to 68!!
Also, has anyone been able to completely turn off the beta pages? I've submitted feedback about disliking the new pages, but it still automatically shows those pages and I have to turn it off every time. Is that true for others? Or is there a way to shut it fully off?
I better not be jinxing myself here, but yes. I tried the beta pages when they first came out, didn't like them, went back to the old style, and it has stayed the old style. I use Chrome on a Windows 10 OS, if that makes any difference.
Mod
I'm so glad that things have calmed down for you!!!
I read "Quiche" last year for "pun in the title" - I wasn't crazy about it, but I've found myself thinking about Agatha now and then, so I think I need to read the next book in the series.
Still autumn here! Actually it's 70 degrees right now! But rain and cold is supposed to be moving in. I'm super jealous that you had snow already.We are ONE DAY OUT from the tv-release of Wheel of Time and I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF. I've dyed my hair red, I've got my outfit all set, we've bought themed snacks, and we're inviting over friends....I've literally never been so excited for a show before. I loved the books so much, and everything I've seen so far makes it look like the cast and director nailed it!
In the meantime...
Finished 48/50
Look. At. Me. Go! Wow I might finish this before Christmas!
Howl’s Moving Castle for "book on TBR with prettiest cover". This was so cute. Very different from the movie, but I still loved it!
Currently Reading
The Apostolic Fathers for "book on TBR with ugliest cover". I mean, look at this. Yellow with red print. Heck no. At least the content is good. XD
QotW
I didn't like the "book set somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021" because we still spent most of the year without vaccines and are even now still in a massive pandemic spike, so planning to travel ANYWHERE this year seemed a little premature to me back when the list came out. I also didn't like the "book in a format you don't normally read" because there's a reason I don't normally read it! I'm paper or nothing! No ebook, definitely no audiobook. Don't do this to me!
Nadine wrote: "Happy Thursday! Now the leaves are off both my maple and my birch tree (which means I can see into my neighbor's yard, which is always startling because I'm not used to it); we had our first snow,..."I really loved the Locked Room Mystery prompt! I read two books for that prompt (I still have to move one somewhere else, I think). I read a story that was supposedly the "first" real LR story, aside from the short story, Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Poe. I read, The Mystery of the Yellow Room,by (Joseph Rouletabille #1), Gaston Leroux. And I couldn't resist reading The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler. With all the discussion of what really IS a Locked Room mystery, I found out all about Closed Circle Mysteries. I'm really hoping for Closed Circle to be a 2022 prompt!
I really agree that I love when a book really fills a prompt, or has some personal significance for my choosing it. And normally, I would agree with you on the "Book seen on someone else's bookshelf" being my least favorite prompt, but I had been seeing, The Thorn Birds, on Seth Myers' end table, during his pandemic broadcasts from his attic. The book became a running gag, when more copies of the book started to appear. So, I used that book for my prompt. I think that you came up with a great solution to that prompt, too! (And you put some effort into it!) It was nice of people in the Popsugar Facebook group, to share photos of their bookshelves (I love seeing people's bookshelves), but I would have resorted to that as a last resort, I think. It seemed too "easy" somehow.
QOTW: I wasn't crazy about "A book that was published anonymously", but I did find a (VERY boring audio book, but thankfully short, book with a Green cover and Green in the title (reading Green books this year was my sub-challenge), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Burton Raffel (Translator)
My other least favorite, was "A book that has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction", because it was such a limited list. I ended up reading a book I wanted to read anyway, by stretching the prompt to "Nominee for Longlist (2014)". The book I read was MaddAddam(MaddAddam #3), by Margaret Atwood.
Mod
ooof! that doesn't sound good!! I hope you find the leak!!!
Hey! Long time no check-in! The last few months have been pretty stressful, I left my job where I’d been for nearly 6 years, and started up a new job in a completely different field. So it’s been a lot of changes. And in the middle of it all I pretty much stopped reading at all. Which is a bummer. But I’m hoping if things settle down soon, I can get back to my usual routine. Hope you’re all doing well! I’ll try to add the books I’m in the middle of when I’m back at my computer!
Tania wrote: "Good morning! We have been having cooler weather and it has been very pleasant. I spoke to my nephew (10) on the phone last night and he informed me that they had finished decorating the outside of..."LOL! Another person who left their longest book for last! Only mine was for my Black Lives Matter prompt, A Promised Land by Obama, which a friend suggested could be listened to at 1.3+ speed to save 5 hours! Yay! I just finished it last night! My husband and I really enjoyed the book, and we got used to the speed after one paragraph, each time we started it.
I'm doing 4 challenges, and still have 4 left to read for Popsugar, and 2 left for the others, and like I was afraid would happen, many of them are physical books, so I won't be able to knit or crochet while reading, just when I need to do a lot of knitting for Christmas gifts! HOW did I not see this coming?!
And one of those is a hefty, challenging book to read, House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, that I planned to read as one of my Prompt #40 books (I'm reading one for each year), for a book with unusual chapter headings, etc. I bought that book for that same PS Challenge in 2019, and never had time to read it. It would have been fitting to read it for the same prompt this year.. but I'll probably do the multiples for Prompt #40 again next year (fingers crossed, they still include that prompt!), so I think I'll grab some of my shorter Griffin and Sabine, books from my bookshelf to read instead. (One of my other challenges has a prompt to read, "An unusual format", so I can read two of the books for both challenges.
Mod
We've had a bunch of QotWs about challenge categories, since that's a natural conversation topic in this group, but not this exact question . Maybe you are thinking of week 38 when the question was "Is there a book you read for the 2021 Popsugar challenge that you didn’t feel was a perfect representative for that prompt" which is probably what you're thinking of, since you're least favorite is the prompt that a lot of books didn't fit!
Mod
LOL I have no idea what you're talking about!!! What network is the show on?
Nadine wrote: "Alex wrote: "We are ONE DAY OUT from the tv-release of Wheel of Time and I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF. I've dyed my hair red, I've got my outfit all set, we've bought themed snacks, and we're inviting o..."Also so excited for this! It is produced by and shown on Amazon.
Mod
oh, thanks! I have Prime connected to my TV, I could watch that.
Hi All, I finished my three challenges late summer so I haven't checked in for awhile. I read only Nonfiction in November & have greatly enjoyed the books I chose. I read Nonfiction year round but concentrate on only that genre in November. Question of the Week
What has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
My number one prompt I didn't like was an advanced prompt # 49 A DNF'ed book from your TBR list. Doing three challenges I usually see the prompt once a year. I can count on one hand books I have not finished. I have read some bad books thinking they will improve. If I don't finish it means I really didn't like the book. It also means I won't pick it up again. I cheated on this prompt. I used the first one to two star book I read.
There were several prompts that were vague & I could use any book I read to fill it. # 30 A book set somewhere you would like to visit. I never go anywhere so I would like to go anywhere.
#32 A book whose title starts with "Q", "X", or "Z". It was one of the last prompts I filled. I ended up going on Hoopla & choosing the first book that fit the prompt. Not fun.
I finished Shakespeare's WifeI'm most of the way through A Florentine Death
And I've started My Sergei: A Love Story
QOTW: The DNF book. I don't generally not finish books and if I do there's a reason.
I'm soooo tired but want to check in. Most of the books I finished this week were either Native because November, or picture books because they got snubbed in the Choice awards. Or both.Finished:
Borders - Native graphic novel
Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman - picture books begin here
Song of the Old City
It Fell from the Sky - love the Fan brothers!
Gaston
Mel Fell - Fun use of layout
Oddbird
Milo Imagines the World - Recommend
When Langston Dances - Pictures were nice but a bit off
Another - wordless
Just in Case You Want to Fly
A Marvellous Light - A novel! It's gay. It's magic. It's steamy.
Islands of Decolonial Love: Stories & Songs - I liked some but overall I just don't tend to connect with this poetic type of thing
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer - picture book
DNF:
Grandma Says: Wake Up World!: The Wisdom, Wit, Advice, and Stories of "Grandma Aggie" - It was like listening to your grandma telling stories, which was so nice. I had to stop, though, when she basically said it's your own fault if you're depressed. I'm done listening to that.
Currently Reading
Good Omens: A Full Cast Production - still enjoying Tennant and Sheen at bedtime
Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash
QOTW:
I'll have to think about it when I'm more awake
Question of the WeekWhat has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
Festivus has come early this year- I'll have to break out the aluminum pole! I do have several candidates for this. I initially hated "the book on your TBR with the ugliest cover" prompt, but it did get me to read a book I probably wouldn't have otherwise and it was a 5 star read for me, so I have changed my tune on that one!
I did not love "Bestseller from the 90's". I worked as a bookseller in the early aughts and if there was a book I wanted to read from around that time period, I've read it. Ended up with "The Memory Police" since it was released in Japan at that time- thanks to the person who suggested that workaround!
I also didn't like the "seen on someone's bookshelf" prompt- especially during COVID when many of us weren't seeing the inside of a lot of other homes.
A true black and white cover proved difficult to find except for biographies with black and white photo covers, so I cheated a bit on that one.
I really don't like the DNF advanced prompt! I only have two books left to read for this challenge. A locked room mystery is one- I don't really like that prompt because you have to spoil yourself just a bit to know it's locked room going in. And I DNF books for a reason! I am so not looking forward to this one, and it lurks in my TBR, spoiling my joy in the books I have left that I want to read this year. I know I have to get it over with, but reading it means not reading a book that I WANT to read so I haven't managed to do this one yet. I resent it.
It's 8 PM here in NYC and I am finally done with my workday. Somehow I just never got to post earlier in the day. There's always a bit of a work backlog when I'm going to be away for a week. Yes, I'm going to be elsewhere next week, having Thanksgiving with friends in Pennsylvania. I"m not only leaving Manhattan for only the 3rd time since March 2020, but I'm picking up the rental car in Queens, a borough I have not visited since 2019, and I'm driving across NJ into PA - first trip out of state since 2019! I might even be able to add Delaware to the states visited next week. Also, first time driving a car since 2019. Liiving in NYC, car ownership a burden and unnecesary. Since I wasn't traveling, and was not even attending meetings in other boroughs or closings in other counties due to pandemic, I just had no reason to rent a car.
Back to books. Like Nadine, I'm 46/50.
Finished - none for PS:
After the Armistice Ball set in Scotland in 1922 - reminded me of Downton Abbey's last 3 or 4 seasons. I quite enjoyed this and will read more in the series. Great seasonal read as Armistice Day is November 11, now called throughout Britain and Europe as Remembrance Day.
Boxes in the Basement - first in a series set in Maine and quite charming. I will definitely being reading more in this series. Mystery is light and a bit unexpected in resolution. Also very seasonal as mostly takes place in November leading up to Thanksgiving.
Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood - excellent 2nd installment - and totally not a seasonal read. I was in a reading funk and this was just the ticket.
Currently Reading:
Crashed - this is for prompt book got for free -- this was in a goody bag from Soho Press at a dinner honoring author Cara Black who writes the Aimee le Duc detective series set in France. It's fun -- basically our protagonist is a professional thief who is a bit of a Robin Hood.
A Lakeside Thanksgiving - a seasonal romance fix.
A Suitable Boy - longest book in pages on my TBR. It is going on vacation wtih me next week.
QOTW: I can't say that any of the prompts aggravated me enought to hate them. It was pretty easy to fill prompts as I read whatever I was reading, and the Advanced were easy peasy given the extensive TBR Towers, both print and ebook, that I have. I would say that only 2 gave me een a moment's trouble:
Title that's an oxymoron -- I actually had a couple books at hand but was just not in the mood for them. I ultimately went with Rogue Protocol which may or may not be a cheat. Not a problem for me.
Also anonymous author and Afrofuturist gave me pause whenever I looked at the list, anonymous author because everything I thought of I had read already (I prefer no re-reads - see above reference to TBR Towers), and Afrofuturist is just not a genre I have much experience with or books for (I am pretty rigid that prompt books come from existing TBR Towers or a book I acquire because I want it or am reading for some other reason). However, for both those, my Feminerdy Book Club came to my resuce without my influencing them. We read The City We Became last spring and it fit Afrofuturist. We just read Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, which was technically a reread for me but I read it 40 years ago or so and the 1831 edition.
In fact my Feminerdy Book Club has made it so I can no longer say that I rarely read FAntasy or SciFi genres.
Mod
One-third to one-half of our leaves are still on the trees, but I assume by next week there won't be many left...
Admin Stuff:
Don’t forget that we are reading and discussing The Firekeeper's Daughter by Karola Renard this month. You can find that thread here. Picked up my copy last weekend! Ready for this weekend's reading!
In addition to that, as usual, we have a discussion thread where you can post any other books you’ve read that would fulfill prompt #16 A book written by an indigenous author.
Question of the Week:
What has been your least favorite POPSUGAR prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
In answering this question I realized that if not for the Listopias and all of us contributing to those as well as listing and commenting on the books we read and plan to read in the Weekly Check-In posts and in threads for each prompt, I would have been hard pressed to fulfill so many of the 2021 prompts! It is our willingness to share our reading experiences and plans with each other that helps me most in fulfilling prompts! That is soooooo cool!! YAY US!
A book with something broken on the cover
Fortunately, I had a perfect book for that in Waldman’s mystery series! But if I hadn’t immediately thought of that one, I might have been stumped!
Nursery Crimes (A Mommy-Track Mystery #1) by Ayelet WaldmanA book with an oxymoron in the title
Again, fortunately, I had a favorite series that perfectly fit this category (a “kid” could never truly work as a “lawyer,” right?!?) But if not, this might have been much more difficult to fulfill…
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Theodore Boone #1) by John Grisham
Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime by Ron Stallworth
Though you might think it impossible, Stallworth pulled this off quite long ago, way before the internet, etc. Still fun to read about how he fooled those “haters” in the KKK!
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
I didn’t really feel this fit the prompt well, but it’s close, IMO! (Unlike you, Nadine, I do not view that as “cheating”! LOL A prompt is there to be stretched, IMO!) 😉
A book whose title starts with “Q,” “X,” or “Z”
This was tough! Luckily, I was reading Ender’s Saga series!
Xenocide (Ender's Saga #3) by Orson Scott Card
A book with a family tree
This would have been impossible for me if not for the listopia, etc.! Though these two books were already “scheduled” for this year. 😊 Hopefully, I’ll get to Love Medicine next year!
Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Game #2) by Orson Scott Card
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill #1) by Abbi Waxman
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Popsugar: 46/50
ATY: 50/52
RHC: 18/24
Reading Women: 15/28
I finished only one book this week! 🙁 That reflects the time, energy, and stress of this major project at work… But I did manage to make some progress in three other books as well!
FINISHED:
The Laws by Connie Palmen ⭐️⭐️ was not an enjoyable experience for me. I was rather reminded of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook in that I had to literally force myself to keep reading to the end. I kept thinking, “Surely this will improve…” I could relate to the references to phenomenology and the fact that without language there is no “reality” or “understanding” of the world. It is through shared meaning of words that we construct our reality as a society/culture. Other than that, I found Marie’s character to be scary in her persistence to define herself and the meaning of her life through the men or man in her life at that moment. I guess that was the point, but I did not particularly enjoy the story arc or the writing style.
POPSUGAR: #30-Amsterdam/Netherlands, #36-163 reviews on Goodreads, #44
ATY: #8-Amsterdam/Netherlands, NEW #12, #20-Unfortunately, I don’t even care about Marie’s future…, #26, #31, #37, #52-In the end, I was just glad to have finished reading it so I could move on!
RHC: #1-Just had a feeling it might not be a favorite read…, #13
CONTINUING:
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride In The History of Queer Liberation by Leighton Brown and Matthew L. Riemer
I am finding this to be fascinating, especially as many of the photographs are from the 60s and 70s. Since I’m old that makes it even more interesting to me.
For my favorite used bookstore book club this coming Sunday:
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
I’ve read the first 20 pages and I think I will enjoy this one! It should definitely prompt discussion.
PLANNED:
My one November Buddy Read:
Roses Are Red (Alex Cross #6) by James Patterson
For the POSUGAR Monthly Group read in November:
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
For Literary Wives December 6:
The Summer Wives: A Novel by Beatriz Williams
And the others that are waiting patiently...
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #26 A book written by Isabel Allende.
Paradise by Toni Morrison to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #25 A book written by Toni Morrison.
In the future sometime, G.Willow Wilson's books I want to read:
The Bird King
Alif the Unseen
Nadine wrote: " I am bundled up AND have the heat turned up to 68!!"Turned up to 68? Goodness! I never realized I kept my temperature so high. I usually keep the heat set at 70. Turned up means 74.
Finally checking in today! My car problems are continuing from last week, now there is another issue...is there no end?Returned from Disneyland in California earlier this week and was a little disappointed in the COVID restrictions. First, they tell you all over the app that you need to be fully vaccinated to enter the park and yet they didn't check any COVID cards. Masks were only required on the rides themselves which was better than nothing but it was still packed with people and most didn't wear masks correctly.
Anyway, on to books...
Finished:
Nothing
Continuing:
Long Bright River by Liz Moore. I was really close to DNFing this book, I think I mentioned that last week. I am still glad I didn't but I do still believe it could have used more editing.
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. I really like the way Krueger writes. I would read more of his books for sure.
QOTW:
I really dislike prompts that have to do with the personal lives of the authors, like their Zodiac sign...that was a pain!
Most of the prompts I can stretch enough to make it work. The "Anonymous" prompt I interpreted as "pseudonym." I didn't like the DNF prompt either. Most books that I finally bring myself to DNF I don't ever want to pick up again.
Finished:We Were Never Here
ATY prompt: 50. A book published in 2021
Popsugar prompt: 1. A book that is published in 2021
Currently reading:
The Thirteenth Tale - 50 % done.
The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon - about 1/3 done
Emma - about 10% done
(Buddy read with my daughter)
A Slow Fire Burning - 60% done. Waiting to get another copy. .
QOTW: Great question this week.
I do know what an oxymoron is, but finding a book wasn't easy. The one I picked mostly fit, but it wasn't as good as any of the examples we ever talked about in English class.
I really dislike list prompts that refer you to someone else's list. I don't care if it's someone as respected as Barak Obama or a Pulitzer Prize. I dislike these prompts period. Therefore, I found the book that has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the book on a Black Lives Matter reading list to be irritating since it restricted you to someone else's list.
I also found the DNF prompt to be weird. It's one thing if you couldn't finish a book because the library or person who loaned it to you wanted it back. But if you really gave up on a book for a good reason, why would you want to finish it?
Happy Thursday. We've had a bit of a blizzard here and now I'm already sick of winter and it's basically only been a week of winter weather so far. But with the weather the way it is, curling up with a good book and a hot drink is always nice. So of course all my library holds came in at once. And yet instead of reading them, I decided to reread one of my favorite series. I'm just too much of a mood reader.Stats
Popsugar - Done
ATY - Done
ATY Rejects - 24/25
I still need a book related to the Year of the Ox, and I feel like just reading a book published during 2021 is cheating. But if I can't find something soon, I'm going to just give up and go with that.
Books I finished:
Firefly: Blue Sun Rising Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - The writing is excellent, and the artwork is fine. I still could have done with more humour.
Terciel and Elinor ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This is book 6 in The Old Kingdom series. It was nice to be back in the world, but this book was all set up and then the actual action was over and done way too quick.
Burn for Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐, White Hot & Wildfire ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I'm still going to have to wait another year for the next book in this series (Thanks to covid 🙄) but I just really felt rereading the series.
Books I made progress on:
The God of Lost Words
DNF
Detective Inspector Huss - I'm just not feeling this and I have way too many other books on my plate right now. Maybe I'll go back and finish it off, but I was just so bored with it already...
QOTW
I really hated the book you saw on someone else's bookshelf and author with the same zodiac as you. But I had forgotten how much I didn't like the Women's Fiction Prize prompt. I made a point to pick a book early (Hamnet and Judith) and then I read it in January and so it almost feels like that was a prompt from last years list.
Happy check-in! A blizzard showed up this week but no complaints from me because I'm not in BC which is suffering. Everything was so dry it burned spring and summer just for all the water to show up now.A much better reading week for me. Too much anticipation for goodreads choice awards left the changes so disappointing.
Finished Reading:
Firefly: New Sheriff in the 'Verse Vol. 1 Firefly: New Sheriff in the 'Verse Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I liked the artwork in the first story better than in these two, plus this was so much more westerny which is not my thing.
She Who Became the Sun ⭐⭐⭐ (2017 800 plus pages)
So I have no patience for long books right now so a 400 page book I started in July and have had to borrow repeatedly from the library to finish is being slotted in. (The ebook copy did say it was 800+ pages too) I did like this story and I voted this for best debut but it felt like 800 pages.
The Embassy of Cambodia ⭐⭐
This little book jumped at me in the library to take it home. This is a short story and it repeats "The Embassy of Cambodia" a lot! I thought it was building to something interesting but it just ended.
Skinwalker ⭐⭐⭐
Go back to my comfort genre of urban fantasy and try something new. It was interesting to have to characters sharing a body and to get chapters from both perspectives.
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The letters to books were 5 star worthy but then the author had some rants/lists that dropped the rating.
The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 3 The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
These follow the plot of book 2 in The Mortal Instruments series. Very pretty artwork and it's clear the artist and Cassandra Clare work well together.
PS 2021 47/50
PS 2017 48/52
Goodreads 249/250
Currently Reading:
On the Edge
Crush
QOTW:
Well I've read so many books (249) this year and yet I haven't completed this challenge. I added extra rules (no rereads and no young adult) for myself to make it challenging and I'm about ready to give up on them and slot things in so I'm done. Here's what bothered me the most.
Anonymous author
Long page count - couldn't it just be 500 pages
Q X Z title - I read them all last year
Magical Realism - I don't understand this label/genre despite loving all things SFF
I probably would have resented Women's Prize winner for it's limitations had I not wanted to read The Song of Achilles already.
Mod
I'm driving across PA into NJ! And let me tell you, the traffic is FIERCE in the direction you are going. If you are taking 80 across NJ, aim to reach the Delaware Water Gap at an odd time, because it is terribly backed up for miles in afternoon and evening with all the New Yorkers going into the Poconos for Thanksgiving!!
Mod
This is very true!!! The suggestions that we make to each other are SO helpful!! I am reading my "anonymous author" book right now, and enjoying it very very much, and I NEVER would have found it if not for a suggestion in this group!! So, thank you to all who recommended Elizabeth and Her German Garden
Mod
Turned up to 68? Goodness! I never realized I kept my temperature so high. I usually keep the heat set at 70. Turned up means 74."
LOL that makes me feel better about my 70F "indulgence" ;-)
Nadine, that's the one i read too! Found the suggestion in the thread, also never would have found it myself. Didn't show up on any of the anonymous author lists I was looking at!
I keep ours at 68 most the time, but turn up to 71 when I get cold (which is pretty often). but i like 68 or so for sleeping so I can blanket.
I managed to read nothing this week but I wanted to tackle the question of the week so here I go. The prompts I didn't like1. A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign - because frankly it was hard to find that information for many of the authors
2. A book that has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction just because this is mostly contemporary lit which I don't enjoy (and I hated the book I picked)
3. A book by a blogger, vlogger, YouTube video creator, or other online personality - I don't really care about much of that. I was given a book that fit otherwise I would have went with Jenny Lawson or Caitlin Doughtery (and wish I had)
4 A book in a different format than what you normally read (audiobooks, ebooks, graphic novels) - Because this is rather abelist
5. A DNF book from your TBR list - I DNF books for a good reason. I wasn't enjoying them and life is too short to read books you don't like. At least I had one I just didn't have time to finish last year
Have a bonus 6. The book on your TBR list with the ugliest cover THis is just mean spirited. I'm an author who knows how hard it is to get a good cover.
and while I liked the prompt A book by a Muslim American author I was annoyed it was restricted to American authors (as I'd read City of the Plague Gods which was great but I couldn't use it)
I think it's the sudden change in temps around here. A week or 2 ago it was in the 60s and now it's below freezing. It's just making me feel chilled. That's my 2 cents anyway. But I'm always on the cold side, so my heat is set at 70-72. The other day I cranked it to 76 for a bit, but that got too warm for me!
Like Lynn, I am SO glad next week is short! I am, I dunno, burnt out? extra tired? Something. I left work yesterday and went home and took a nap and still fell asleep at my regular time. Many of my clients are having a hard time right now, so that's adding to it, too. Suffice it to say, my reading is almost at a standstill. I think I read maybe 10 pages of The Diary of a Young Girl this past week and that was about it.
QOTW: I don't think I really hated any of the prompts. I think the one I've struggled the most with is body positivity. It's a subject I'm interested in, but I haven't had the mental energy for most of the year to read a nonfiction book about it, and haven't seen a fiction book that grabs me. My real struggle is finding time and energy to read!
Mod
Yes it's the sudden change. By February I'll be much hardier! My father was a polar bear so I was raised in a chilly house. Every time I raise the temp on my thermostat, I'm a little rebel hahaha! (just like standing in front of the fridge with the door open, or - gasp! - opening more than one box of cereal at a time!!)
At night I practically turn the heat off - the vents are closed in my room, and the thermostat is set to 55. I've even been cracking my bedroom window open at night (but that won't last, soon it will be too cold) I sleep under a lot of blankets :-)
Now that my mother is elderly she complains that my house is too cold. hah!
Nadine wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "I think it's the sudden change in temps around here. A week or 2 ago it was in the 60s and now it's below freezing. It's just making me feel chilled. That's my 2 cents anyway. Bu..."I would die in your house! I'm sure it's the Texan in me, but 68 is SO COLD. Even in the summer, I don't turn my thermostat below 70. In the cooler months, it stays around 74. I have terrible circulation, though, so I'm sure that doesn't help.
I seem to have the opposite interpretation for "anonymous" from everyone else. To me, "anonymous" means the author *chose* not to have their name on it (like how you can choose to remain anonymous if you're giving a police tip or donation, that kind of thing), so someone writing under a pseudonym is choosing to remain unknown, and therefore counts as "anonymous."For something like Beowulf, I don't see that as anonymous because it's simply lost to history rather than someone going out of their way to make sure their name isn't on it.
Obviously, the interpretation belongs to the interpreter, so I'm not trying to say others are doing it wrong, but I find it really interesting that others equate the term "anonymous" with "unknown."
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
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The Goodreads Choice Awards are open! And they are deeply disappointing this year! They took away all my favorites: the write-ins, the picture book category, and the science category. I'm not voting, there's just not enough there to justify it for me, I've read very few of the books they've chosen.
Admin stuff:
Our November group read of Firekeeper's Daughter is on-going - join the discussion here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
This week I finished three books, none for this Challenge, so I remain: 46/50.
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley- I enjoyed this "mystery" (is it a mystery? general fiction? I don't know what genre to put this in) a lot, it's a GREAT debut, but it could have been tightened up a bit more. I look forward to the next book she writes!
A Pho Love Story by Loan Le- a very sweet & charming romance, I also enjoyed this debut A LOT, but it could have been tightened up a bit more. And I look forward to the next book she writes! This would fit "set in a restaurant" if anyone still needs a book for that category.
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - I was mostly disappointed in this book, but I enjoyed some parts enough that I gave it 3 stars. But mostly I was disappointed. Don't you hate that when you're enjoying a book immensely, and you expect it's building up to something, and then it all just falls apart and you're left with just a pile of dirt and nothing particularly interesting? It made me a bit angry.
I'm still plugging away at my longest book, A History of the World in 100 Objects; "only" 36 chapters left! yeah, I'm never going to finish this book. I've also started two more Challenge books, so I'm almost at the end!
Question of the Week
What has been your least favorite Popsugar prompt for the 2021 Reading Challenge?
Maybe I should have waited for Festivus to post this question, because I've got a lot of grievances with the Challenge this year!! There were A LOT of categories I didn't like, but these five top my list. (Interestingly, and conversely, I've had a good reading year with the Challenge and enjoyed most of the books I've read. So maybe they WERE good categories after all ...)
5 & 4. I thought I knew what an oxymoron was, until I had to find a book with an oxymoron in the title. And I thought I knew what a locked room mystery was, until I had to find a locked room mystery to read. In both cases (The Last Days of Night & Fugitive Telemetry), I don't feel certain that the books I chose truly fit the category. I've honestly never felt less certain!
3. I wasn't AT ALL pleased with "best-seller from the 90s" when I first saw it, but, ironically, this book (10 lb Penalty) ended up being one of my favorite reads of the year, so I can hardly say I disliked the category now!!
2. I never enjoy reading long books, although I have only myself to blame, since I did put this book on my TBR - lesson learned! I excised all other super long books from my TBR, so I never go through this again!! Bye-bye, Anna Karenina! I do still have 17 books left on my TBR with page counts greater than 600, and I'm giving them all some serious side-eye right now. Maybe I should go delete all of them right now.
1. And my #1 LEAST favorite category: a book seen on someone's bookshelf
I never see anyone's bookshelves, so I feel like I can't really tackle that category in the spirit it was intended. Because of this, I have to say this has been my LEAST favorite category. I put it off until the end, in the hopes that I WOULD actually see someone's shelf at some point. Finally, I just searched the Internet and found a photo of a book I want to read (The Removed) sitting on a shelf in a bookstore. This feels like cheating.