Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Since this is a tips section, and for the most part in the group threads fiction is all over the suggestions, for obvious reasons, I felt that it might help members to think outside the box for non-fiction or biographies.

Personally I'm a BIG reader of biographies, and often listen to non-fiction audiobooks (Easier to jump in and out of on short commutes). So these challenges are often fun adventures in bending the prompts to fit my needs.

The best tip I can offer are to take the word "Character" with a grain of salt. The biography, memoir, or non-fiction book about are about real people, but we can look at them as the main character in the book in my opinion. In a well written biography I run into the same emotions I do reading fictions. I actually cried last night when I finished the Jim Henson Bio even though he's been dead for 27 years!

So don't forget your non-fiction or Bio's when thinking about prompts!

A book set during war time? How about the Washington Bio, or Hamilton, or Lincoln! Unbroken, or Lone Survivor.

A book involving travel? Try Jefferson's bio, or Wild!

A book about food? Read The Drunken Botanist!

And so on and so forth. If anyone is seeking good NF or Bio's let me know!

Sadly, the prompt is a NOVEL set during wartime. This makes me sad because there are two different Erik Larson books I wanted to read for this, but alas.

poshpenny wrote: "Sadly, the prompt is a NOVEL set during wartime. This makes me sad because there are two different Erik Larson books I wanted to read for this, but alas."

Those tricky popsugar devils! Ok even I can't spin that haha.

I would recommend anything by Jeff Shaara or his dad's Killer Angels then!

I really enjoy when people try to use one genre or type of book to fill all possible prompts. I'm doing it with kids picture books for my 2 yo bedtime stories (a few changes obviously like "book" instead of "novel" and the 800 page one is now a book written by an author who normally writes for adults). And last year there was a girl trying to fit graphic novels into all prompts. So neat to see how you can interpret the prompts!

Great ideas -- and great tip on the Jim Hensen bio. Adding that one to my TBR list.

Great tip! I opted to use an autobiography for my "eccentric character" category :) I bet many (auto)biographies would work! The one I used was The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness and the Making of a Great Chef about Marco Pierre White.

Another biography I highly recommend that would work for "interesting woman" is Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. I don't usually get into biographies the way I got into this one.

Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy would fit in quite a few prompts, for example he rode through Central Asia in 1904-06 while on a spying mission for Tsar Nicholas II. As a 29-year-old officer in the Russian Imperial Army he had taken part in his coronation in 1896, for his 75th birthday in 1942 he had to play host for Hitler, and in 1944 this aristocratic officer from the 19th century became the president of a republic in order to lead his country into peace. And even though he had lead his country in two wars against the USSR, he had also earned the respect of Stalin, with Stalin even complementing him, and these days also the respect of many Russians. Here is a video about a ceremony where a plaque was established for him in Saint Petersburg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWkuK.... I find it quite interesting, considering that his army was only about 30 km from the town (at the old 1939 border) for 2.5 years during the siege of Leningrad but Mannerheim did refuse to attack against it, even though Hitler asked him to.

(I am not sure why someone would choose to name her SHOE brand after a drink that was invented for him and is named after him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marskin... but this has happened: http://www.marskinryyppy.com/about/)

Another interesting life story is that of Lauri Törni, aka Larry Thorne, who fought under three flags (Captain in Finland, Hauptsturmführer in Nazi Germany, and Major in USA, he died in Vietnam). Among other things he was the only Finnish soldier who had a bounty on his head from the Red Army, 3 million Finnish marks. (One of the men he lead passed away this Friday. He went on to become the 9th President of Finland in 1982-94 and had served in his detachment in some of the major battles of 1944 as a 20-year-old, including the last battle of the Continuation War.) The character based on him was played by John Wayne in the movie Green Berets. So among other things he was also an immigrant. Born A Soldier: The Times And Life Of Larry Thorne He can be seen in this film as one of the instructors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mtI...

The list in general has a real bias towards fiction and I read a lot of nonfiction, so I'm a bit of a loose constructionist when it comes to interpreting some of the prompts. For example, for "a book based on mythology" I'm reading a non-fiction book about myths in general, When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth, rather than a fictional story based on a myth. I think that's legit! It's also a lot of fun to think creatively about the prompts and I end up with books that are a good fit for me while still stretching me into areas I may not have gone on my own.

Most of the prompts work well for either. This year I read a non-fiction book about time travel! I'm usually disappointed when the prompt says "novel" instead of "book" because it happens when I really want to read non-fiction for that one!

I want to try and do as many of these from books I already own as possible, but it is tough with some of the categories...

Tara wrote: "I really enjoy when people try to use one genre or type of book to fill all possible prompts. I'm doing it with kids picture books for my 2 yo bedtime stories (a few changes obviously like "book" i..."

I'm trying to get my kids to do it next year. There are a LOT of the Magic Tree House series that I can see being used for next year's challenge.

I just ran across a non-fiction book that would fulfill the
Twins" prompt, The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life, by Lauren Markham. It's a book about identical twins escaping El Salvador's civil war, to come to California.

From Goodreads: With intimate access and breathtaking range, Markham offers a coming of age tale that is also a nuanced portrait of Central America's child exodus, an investigation of U.S. immigration policy, and an unforgettable testament to the migrant experience.

(I also have no qualms about tweaking the parameters of the reading prompts to fit what I WANT to read! )

I read I'm Just a Person, by Tig Notaro for the prompt, A book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist.

poshpenny wrote: "Sadly, the prompt is a NOVEL set during wartime. This makes me sad because there are two different Erik Larson books I wanted to read for this, but alas."

I would 100% consider Erik Larson's books non-fiction novels! Truman Capote didn't "invent" the genre for nothing. ;)

I am currently listening to the memoir of Betty White called "Here We Go Again". I have to say it's quite fascinating and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

I plan on reading a book about hygge for "a book set in Scandinavia"- liberal interpretation of the word "set!"

I am currently reading Educated by Tara Westover. It is excellent. Tara was raised in Idaho by fundamentalist, survivalist parents. She didn't attend school until she entered BYU. She is torn between her loyalty to her family (and their brand of religion) and her desire to learn about the world. I highly recommend it.

Sowmia wrote: "I plan on reading a book about hygge for "a book set in Scandinavia"- liberal interpretation of the word "set!""

I'm planning on The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator. Hopefully it will be an interesting non-fiction read, I know nothing about the authorJoakim Palmkvist, but its set in Scandi.

I love non-fiction, I'm doing the challenge to push myself into reading more fiction but some of these just have to be non-fiction. So I'm planning on An Astronaut's Guide to Life on earth for " a book set in space", but I guess it's not all in space so does it count? I wonder. Also For "A book set in Scandinavia, I plan on reading The Year of Living Danishly, I love books about people's experiences as expats. Oh and I'll probably use Astrophysics for People in a Hurry for "a book with an astrology term". The rest are novels, so far.

Suggestions on where Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover might fit for the 2019 Challenge?

Amy S. Griffith wrote: "Suggestions on where Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover might fit for the 2019 Challenge?"

It might fit "A book about the family" or "A book recommended by a celebrity you admire" (it was recommended by Bill Gates in case you can say that you "admire" him).
It can also loosely fit "A book that includes a wedding" as there is a brief mention of the wedding of the author's relative, or "A book set on a college or university campus" since the second part of the book is set during the author's years in college.

Amy S. Griffith wrote: "Suggestions on where Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover might fit for the 2019 Challenge?"

It is also a debut I believe. And it probably fits some prompt from a prior year.

I always prefer non fiction and biographies. For this challenge I'm reading:

The Trial of Lizzie Borden for the book with an accessory on the cover and a book written in 2019.
Punk Rock Blitzkreig by Marky Ramone for a book written by a musician.
Here's the Story by Maureen McCormick for the author whose first and last names start with the same letter
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou for the book you meant to read in 2018 and the book with a two word title