Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Here is the place to speculate about 2027!!

I just wasted (?) an hour scrolling through Popsugar's recent posts. I predict themes of: nostalgia, shopping malls, "the aughts," fitness without sweating (we already did pilates, so maybe yoga?), reality shows, good sex, and marriage/weddings.

Maybe:
* a book that reminds you of your teen years
* a book published in the 2000s
* a "spicy" book
* a book set in a shopping mall (I could recommend The Payback for this! It starts out in a mall clothing store)
* a character who does yoga
* a character planning a wedding
* a book involving a reality show

I'm sure we'll get a "book published in 2027" prompt, but I really hope that we'll see some TBR prompts on there this time around (maybe in the Advanced section).

Following along the lines of a "spicy" book prompt, with "Wicker" soon to be released, I wonder if we might get a "romantic book that has been turned into a movie" prompt.

I started with these predictions last week:

Sheep or goat in the title or cover (for Chinese astrology)

At least 2 books about specific sports

One book about music

One book about women in a specific occupation

Because 27 is 3x3x3, a trilogy, a book with 3 authors, and a book with "3" in the title.

At least 3 ludicrously niche prompts that will have us pulling our hair out.

Adding to those: there's usually a "recommendation" prompt. They've done one from a friend, librarian, bookseller and chatbot, so I'm going with "random person you collared at the shopping mall."

Hopefully they do the 27th state one; I have a book on my shelf from the ultimate Florida author (Carl Hiaasen).

And there will be a book about books-about-books.

I would be shocked if there isn't a Romantasy book prompt of some sort. The entire NYBook Con this past April was dedicated to that genre, which signals that the new corporates running it are all about specific hot genre rather than a more general approach of it's prior existence.

As for others, there are always - and these are ones I wish would go away for a while -

Celebrity one -- my hope is that they stick to a celebrity book club one not a memoir or some such.

An award winner - usually a too specific award.

movie/tv series tie in

originated as FanFic or NaNoMo or whatever that November writing event is called - I have read every single book published that I am willing to read for both those, all because it's been a prompt in either PS or ATY too often.

Some book tied to the GR awards - I really hate that prompt as those books -- chosen and nominated - never reflect anything I read or will contemplate reading, and I hear that from a lot of friends on GR. I'm just not in the mainstream of GR Readers - and that also is because I don't read books as they are released - I like them to age.



Some new and maybe not so great prompts:

relating to politics today - maybe a book with a disputed election

Something relating to an author or series (books or movie/tv) having an anniversary in 2027 - this year was Agatha Christie for example.

I'd be shocked if there isn't one for AI - and I've read a lot of good books and have more on my TBR featuring AI. But I will be appalled if they have us read a book written by AI in whole or in part. Truly appalled. Might force me not to do PS in protest.

On the suggestion of yoga - that's at least something that I've encountered in a book regularly enough - light fiction usually.

Meditation - have they done that?

This year's pilates and whatever the other was - I actually ended up with 2 books unexpectedly fitting - and not the type of books you would expect, one I first came across and used being historical mystery set in India.

Do we think it will be published on 11/1 like last year?

Sydney wrote: "Do we think it will be published on 11/1 like last year?"



I doubt it. Last year they gave us teasers all through October. This year it's been silent.

In many years it published in December.

I doubt it. There would have been teasers already. Since they set up the FB group, there has always been a least one teaser prompt early.

That's what I thought as well but was just wondering if I had missed something.....

In the worst case of no challenge posted by 1/1/27, Lynn and Nadine could each pick 20 regular and 5 advanced prompts for the group. Another idea would be to "choose your own retro challenge" by having each member pick their favorite prompts from prior years for an individualized challenge.

They will probably post something, though. I can focus my planning efforts on the holiday season until then.

Since they usually do some sort of paired prompts- same title, 2 books written by partners, etc- maybe two books with similar covers

Brandon wrote: "In the worst case of no challenge posted by 1/1/27, Lynn and Nadine could each pick 20 regular and 5 advanced prompts for the group. Another idea would be to "choose your own retro challenge" by ha..."




LOL I'm already on it!! But I'm sure it won't matter, I have confidence they will post a list - it's low effort for them and it gets a lot of engagement.

I just hope there are more prompts that have better leeway when it comes to choices. So many of the prompts tend to be geared toward fiction genres.

I get that's what people like, but it would be nice to add more nonfiction choices to the prompts because that can be limiting, or you have to dig deep to find books that work for them.

A few more prompts that could be fun:
*A book that reminds you of a favorite movie/song
*A book that feels like the complete opposite of the book you just read
*Set somewhere you've been/somewhere you've never been
*About/inspired by a myth/mythology
*With punctuation in the title

One thought should PS disappoint and not deliver a challenge for 2027 - which I think unlikely - we could make our own - everyone suggest one prompt, put them through a randomizer and voila, a list. If too many provided, after randomizing, pick top 50 or 52. If too few, pull some posted here - ones that could actually find a few books to read, LOL

Theresa wrote: "One thought should PS disappoint and not deliver a challenge for 2027 - which I think unlikely - we could make our own - everyone suggest one prompt, put them through a randomizer and voila, a list..."



Good idea!!

Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "One thought should PS disappoint and not deliver a challenge for 2027 - which I think unlikely - we could make our own - everyone suggest one prompt, put them through a randomizer a..."

Actually, revising my suggestion slightly - have everyone submit 1 or 2 prompt ideas. You should also reserve the right to tweak phrasing on them or eliminating duplicates. It's good to have a larger than needed number to Randomize.

I mean ps has no excuse to not put out a challenge when someone can just get ChatGPT to make it.

I remain confident that they WILL release a list.

I just want to know WHEN. I've messaged several of them, but the only (very nice) reply I got was from someone who got laid off last year. And I think that's the main problem. PS, like many companies, keeps "restructuring" to cut costs, and they've probably cut it down past the bone, so there is no one left who really has a spare second to devote to telling us about the list. It's also possible that PS does not allow their employees to communicate with us about upcoming projects. I know when I worked for Carrier, they were VERY touchy about people publicly saying anything.

Please can we stop with the sports prompts? I am so heartily sick of them!

And if someone can't immediately come up with at least twenty widely available books for a prompt, I think it should not be on the challenge!

We FINALLY got a tiny peep out of PS!!! On FB, Kaitlin Hatton replied to a comment with "stay tuned." Proof of life, at last! LOL!!

Of course, this has only made me more anxious to just know the date!

Laura Ruth wrote: "I started with these predictions last week:

Sheep or goat in the title or cover (for Chinese astrology)



It's specifically the Fire Goat, so I'm expecting something about fire or flames on the cover, as well.

The women's world cup is next year, so I wouldn't be surprised to see something about women's sports or female athletes.

There's a total solar eclipse happening in August visible across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, so something related to the sun or eclipses?

I think a fake dating romance will be a prompt. https://www.popsugar.com/love/fake-da...

I really hope a cancer romance isn't in the list. https://www.popsugar.com/love/dating-...



I would really like it if they gave us some ideas of books (PLURAL!) that inspired their incredibly specific prompts. I finally gave in and read Water for Elephants like the third time it came up as an option when they wanted us to read a NaNo book, because that is the only NaNo book I had heard of; but I have no idea what books are NaNo books unless the author is running around all like, "Yeah, I pounded out the first shitty draft of this during NaNo."

Agree on the sports prompts! Also anything celebrity and awards winning unless the latter is very broad. Also hate the ones tied to GR award winners.

Nadine in NY wrote: "We FINALLY got a tiny peep out of PS!!! On FB, Kaitlin Hatton replied to a comment with "stay tuned." Proof of life, at last! LOL!!"

Ohhh I missed that! Thanks for posting, Nadine!

I was all set to task you mods with curating our own list or go with Theresa's suggestion above. I'm also doing the ATY challenge where we elaborately craft, workshop, and vote on each set of prompts, but it's a bit late in the year for that now^^ Here's hoping PS will just drop the challenge out of the blue one of these days :)

Yeah I can no longer worry about no new list... and can panic about not finishing 2026. ;)

Erica wrote: "Yeah I can no longer worry about no new list... and can panic about not finishing 2026. ;)"



LOL precisely!!!


I'm ALMOST done with this year's list. I should finish before December, so I'm feeling good about that.

I have 7 ps prompts left and 4 aty. I can maybe move things around to accomplish prompts but some I just have to find a book and read it.

I have 2 left and I'm reading one. The other I have started. Goal is to have them read by next week's report in. But work is hot and heavy right now.

I have another prompt idea that I think most people would hate but I would find funny- book you chose based on a bad review

I just finished a book that I really liked and one of the most popular reviews is a 1-star review from a reviewer I recognized- because this same reviewer just gave a book I hated 5-stars. So clearly we have opposite tastes. And their 1-star books should be added to my tbr.

Also its seems like the annoying type of prompt that everyone gets frustrated with, so they could choose it!

I'm always happy to see prompts that encourage me to read more diverse voices. POC authors, disabled authors, LGBTQ authors, etc. Also the "book with [blank] on the cover or in the title is usually fun." If we get another hyper-specific one like "bachelorette trip" I swear I will scream...