Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Moonglow what about this???

Here is a book about a library full of books. The Shadow of the Wind. In fact, the main characters are booksellers, and a passion for written words is what drives these characters to their heroics . . . and to their broken hearts.

Stina wrote: "Would S. count for this? Or House of Leaves?"


House of Leaves would absolutely work for this

For this category I read The Wrath & the Dawn

I read My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises for this prompt. It's about a girl and the fairy tales her grandmother told her. We get snippets of the fairy tales throughout the book. It is super funny and super sad.
It would also match the unvisited country prompt if you have never been to Sweden or one of the prompts from the advaced list.

The Reader

Lullabymy husband told my that "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk is a story within a story. I'm reading it now. Hopefully it is!

I read De droogte by Jane Harper. The Dry

For this one I have stumbled upon (at my local library) The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti. I didn't know it would fit this category but it is telling the father's story and the daughter's. I've already started working on it.

I saw someone else mention The History of Love, would this fit - is it a story within a story, or just a story about a story?

What about The Life We Bury? Would that work?

Kate wrote: "I just read Th1rteen R3asons Why last night, and I think it fits the category. It's a YA novel that was huge when it was released but I just now got around to it. There is a main character narratin..."

I wondered if this had originated with a book. I've just finished the series on Netflix and thought it was incredible. I will take a look at the book.

I think that depends upon how technical you want to be. In the sense that a mystery like this reveals details of the underlying events and motivations that lead to the crime, yes. In the sense of a framed narrative like Heart of Darkness, it doesn't meet that criterion.

I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for this prompt, which works really well.

Would The Things We Wish Were True count for this one? I read it and am having trouble counting it as a book for the challenge as I am about 20 books in...

I read A Monster Calls for this prompt. Loved it.

For someone who enjoys philosophy

I'm reading Domingo à Tarde and I think that fits this prompt.

I'm thinking of reading Count of Monte Cristo for this prompt, however I'm not sure if it fits. Has anyone read Count of Monte Cristo and would it fit for this one?

Betty wrote: "What about The Life We Bury? Would that work?"

Oh, I hadn't even thought of that one! I listened to the audiobook last year & thought it was great. Yes, I definitely think that book would work for this prompt.

Michelle wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Count of Monte Cristo for this prompt, however I'm not sure if it fits. Has anyone read Count of Monte Cristo and would it fit for this one?"
Unless I've completely forgot the structure of the book, I don't think it does.

I currently have Big Fish by Daniel Wallace for this one.

Michelle wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Count of Monte Cristo for this prompt, however I'm not sure if it fits. Has anyone read Count of Monte Cristo and would it fit for this one?"
I'm currently reading the The Count of Monte Cristo for this prompt. It was suggested by someone else -- and it seemed like a good time to read this clasic.

Would Olive Kitteridge fit? Thoughts?

Arushi wrote: " For someone who enjoys philosophy"

That's a good book. That Author has written acouple more books that fits this category.
The Solitaire Mystery
The Christmas Mystery

He was one of my favorite Authors growing up

I'm using Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike and Pretty Deadly, Vol. 2: The Bear. There's the framing story of Bunny and Butterfly and in volume two a character tells a story about a farmer.

I find the plots a bit confusing in these comics - I read that the art and structure has been influenced by manga and I think that helps explain my problems with it.

I read Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz for this category. I loved it, and it's a perfect fit for a story within a story!

The main character is an editor at a London publishing house whose most famous author is a bestselling crime novelist. When she reads the manuscript of the latest book, parallels emerge between the plot and real-life events, and she has to do some sleuthing of her own. It's a bit of a tribute to the Agatha Christie/Midsomer Murders genre of detective stories in quaint English villages (which I can't say I've ever been drawn to), but it's very well done and entertaining from start to finish.

I don't know if any one mentioned The Story Keeper but that one is a story about a woman trying to piece together a mystery story she found in her desk one day. I am pretty sure it would work.

I just noticed there are 188 comments on this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating what others have said.

I just finished reading The Marvels by Brian Selznick for the "book set in two time periods" challenge. However, it would fit perfectly with "a story within a story," too.

For those who don't know his work, Brian Selznick writes these hugely long tomes (I read his Wonderstruck for the 600-page challenge last year; he also wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which the movie Hugo is based on) where about half of the book is written in a traditional way, and half of the book is full-page, rich, pencil-drawn expressions of what is going on. The Marvels includes 400 pages of pictures, and then 200+ pages of story, so don't let the page count scare you. Selznick has the ability to take a dozen things that don't have anything to do with anything and tie them together into a gorgeous story, and I recommend all three of them.

For this challenge, I read A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin, in which a retired, 93 year old Sherlock Holmes tries to combat the deterioration of his mental faculties by recounting one of his old cases to the young son of his landlady.

I am reading The Lure of the Moonflower for this, which is the last book in Willig's "Pink Carnation" series, and it definitely fits the category. Any of the books in this series would work, each one is framed by an ongoing story of a woman doing research for her PhD, and the "story within" is about a variety of spies (British spies during the Napoleonic war) she is researching, and each one has a romance. So these would work for "espionage" too, if you like historical romance with your espionage.

The Shadow of the Wind would be a great option for this prompt. My book club read it for May -- and everyone gave it high praise (which seldom happens).

I read Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham for this one. English country drama told from the pov of a writer who had first met the players as a young boy. Not as good as other works by Maugham, but okay.

Would the Neapolitan Novels (my brilliant friend,...) count for this prompt?
I am currently reading The Story of a New Name .
Thanks for helping!

Would Kindred work for this one?

If not, I think I can still fit it in with a bit of list rearranging.

Wendy wrote: "Would Kindred work for this one?

If not, I think I can still fit it in with a bit of list rearranging."

No, the main character travels through time, so it takes place in different time periods, but it all HER story, one story. So ... it definitely works for "set in two different time periods" ... or "difficult topic," "book by a person of color," "book involving [time] travel," and, if you stretch the definition a bit, "book with family-member term in the title." As well as a bunch of topics that are reader-specific and may or may not apply to you (different ethnicity, different country, used book store, on TBR list, etc)

Would Commonwealth work for this category?

I readOs Memoráveis, a picture took in 24th april, before the revolution inside the story of one daughter, jornalist, discovery where the persons of the picture were past 20 years.

Missy wrote: ""Fried Green Tomatoes at the whistle Stop Cafe" immediately came to mind."

oh such a good story - A reread of this would be an excellent idea :-)

The notebook by Nicholas Sparks is the STORY about Noah reading from a notebook the Story of their life to his wife who has Alzheimer .... this sounds like a story within a story .....

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is three tales of Ser Duncan and his squire, Prince Aegon Targaryen, who are historical / legendary figures in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

It's not strictly a character retelling another story that a lot of other suggestions are... but it is a tale from a wider work of fiction...

I just discovered this NY Times Bestseller from 2016: Magpie Murders. The author pays homage to Agatha Christie and writes this book as a story within a story. Perfect!

I just read The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco and I believe it would be a great book in this category. I really liked it so I'd definitely recommend it.

Don Quixote would work for this prompt, so many stories are told inside the main narrative!

I'm currently reading The Romance Reader's Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell and it seems to fit this category. This book is a bit of a genre-blender. It's historical fiction, coming-of-age, and possibly mystery and romance as well (I'm only about 1/4 of the way in, but it seems to be leading in that direction - one of the narrators is dead and telling the story from beyond the grave, so I suppose the mystery is "how did she die?"). Within the story of the two sisters is interspersed portions of a romance that one of the sisters is reading ("The Pirate Lover" - which is not nearly the bodice-ripper that the title would imply, it's really more of an adventure story than a romance).

I'm enjoying this so far.

Ashley wrote: "I just finished Behind Her Eyes, and I think that could work for this prompt!"

I just finished this (WOW) and I hadn't thought it would count for any of these prompts but I was thinking I would put it in here, as while we're reading the story of Adele and Louise, we're learning the old story of Adele at the same time.

I read Frankenstein for this one!

Robyn wrote: "Has anyone read The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro? I just finished this last week and was wondering if I could use it for this category?"

Just getting around to reading through this thread. I really enjoyed the book too, but I don't think it fits for this category.

I read " Do Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madelyn Thien. It could also qualify as a book about an immigrant.

I read All Our Wrong Todays
This book was weird! You know the 2016 people in the 60s imagined we'd have? Flying cars, moving sidewalks, the Jetsons... yea, a guy from that 2016 goes back in time and fucks shit up and gets stuck in our 2016. Not bad, seriously quirky. I will definitely never read it again lol