Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A book about a writer

The first thing that pops into my head is "Stephen King" - ALL his books seem to be about writers! (no not really ...) The nice thing about this category is that it can be fiction or non-fiction. I might take this opportunity to read a biography of one of my favorite writers! I've had both Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurstonon my radar for far too long now, maybe 2024 is finally the year that I read one of them!

Here are some other lists to help you start looking:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
https://bookriot.com/must-read-novels...
https://bookriot.com/literary-biograp...


Listopia list is Here: A Book About a Writer

I think this could also stretch to epistolary novels, since the characters are writers of letters. I really want to read Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect about a bunch of mystery writers on a train when a murder happens, so I'm probably sorted for this prompt.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel was one of the best books I read this year!

The Overnight Guest would fit this prompt

The Writing Retreat would work well for this one!

Michelle wrote: "The Writing Retreat would work well for this one!"

I was already planning on reading that this year. Thanks for the reminder

Emily Henry's Beach Read is a romance about two writers.

I've started this book, but can never get myself to finish it.

Now this prompt may give me the incentive to finish it for a change as good as the book is.

Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination

Jen wrote: "Emily Henry's Beach Read is a romance about two writers."

This is on my TBR. Thank you!

Do you think you could also count books about writing?

Doni wrote: "Do you think you could also count books about writing?"



I was counting them, yes.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Doni wrote: "Do you think you could also count books about writing?"



I was counting them, yes."

Cool! You're as much an authority as anyone! ;)

I'm going to read Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect. This is a sequel to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone which I have already read and also works for this prompt!

Lily and the octopus

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is more than just a how-to-write manual. It's a fabulous memoir of Stephen King, focusing on writing triumphs, doldrums, and everything in between. Hmmmm, could be a reread for me....

Highly recommend The Dead Romantics for this one! She's a ghostwriter

Danielle- I just finished that one and second it!

I just added 4 3 2 1 to my TBR. Sounds interesting. Apparently one of the characters is a writer.

One book I haven’t gotten to from 2023 yet is . The main character is a playwright.

I have not had a chance to read it yet, but I'm very interested in Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, by Dianna Wynne Jones.

Would work?

Divine Rivals is YA fantasy about journalists

Yellowface would fit this prompt.

I am reading Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. I wanted to read his book Nothing to See Here for the longest time, guess I will read this one instead.

Anna wrote: "The Overnight Guest would fit this prompt"

I am planning to read this book for the prompt 'A book by a deaf or hard-of-hearing author'.

I'm currently reading The Auburn Conference, which involves multiple writers.

I am reading a non-fiction here: Hemingway in Cuba. Not an in depth biography of Ernest Hemingway, more like "postcards from Cuba". I've been waiting to pick it up at the right moment <3

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

I'd highly recommend The Poet X, a novel in verse about a young poet. The story centers on her writing her poems, and is made up of them.

I hadn't read a novel in verse before - I thought it was phenomenal. It didn't lose anything with the format - the story was just as complete and detailed as it would have been in prose. It could also be used for the collection of 24 + poems - each is just a page or 2 so there's definitely more than 24.

In the new release blog post by the author, These Haunted Hills has a main protagonist who's an author . It would also work for LGBT romance & written during nano.

I read:
Oh, God! by Avery Corman

I enjoyed the book, but I think I liked the movie better.

So my question is:
"Who did you like better as God...George Burns or Morgan Freeman?"

Really leaning towards this one:

Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination

Robin wrote: ""Who did you like better as God...George Burns or Morgan Freeman?"..."



LOL oh it's ALWAYS George Burns!!!

Okay found my book for this prompt.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

I know on the onset of the topic and given the content it might not seem like a book about a writer, but if you've read it (as I currently am), then you'll come to find that Wilkerson interweaves a lot of her own personal narrative and her own personal experiences as she does the research for this book.

I would think given those details it would count.

I went with The Marlowe Papers, a novel-in-verse about my favorite literary conspiracy theory: that Christopher Marlowe faked his death and wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare. You don't have to believe it to enjoy the novel, of course, and the story gives a vivid portrait of Marlowe and his contemporaries.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect is about a writer attending a mystery writers' convention! This book has the potential to fulfill multiple prompts this year: title is a complete sentence, set in travel destination on your bucket list, if you'd love to visit Australia.

I just finished The Children's Blizzard for the "set in snow" prompt (4*, would recommend). It could also fit here because one of the characters is a journalist/propaganda writer.

I read the Dreaming of You: A Novel in Verse by Melissa Lozada-Oliva. The main character is a fictionalized version of the author so, fits perfectly! My book club is reading this for this month and judging by the reviews a lot of people hated this book but I loved it.

Hour of the Star probably would work.

I read The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway). Jake Barnes is a writer as is Robert Cohn

Laura Ruth wrote: "I went with The Marlowe Papers, a novel-in-verse about my favorite literary conspiracy theory: that Christopher Marlowe faked his death and wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare..."

Review: http://www.lauraruthloomis.com/whats-...

I rad “Close to Death” by Anthony Horowitz for this. Love this series

Denise wrote: "I read The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway). Jake Barnes is a writer as is Robert Cohn"

<3 <3 <3 My favorite book in the whole world.

Finished Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne. It was a much easier read than I had expected - lively and interesting. However, I think you have to be familiar with at least some of Donne's poetry to fully appreciate it, as the author doesn't give any poems in full.

Some historical fiction about writers:

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower - Emily Dickinson

Anything in the Jane Austen mystery series by Stephanie Barron

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict - Agatha Christie

Anything in the Bronte Sisters mystery series by Bella Ellis

I read The Christie Affair. It was good.

Dirtbag: Essays

the thirteenth tale