Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Happy Thursday! For once, it is not actively snowing as I write this. But it'll be snowing again soon enough.

This week I finished 7 books, 3 of them for the Challenge, and I am now 18/50.

Inhumanity - a graphic novel cross-over collection from Marvel, very uneven, parts I loved, parts bored me. If one of your favorite series or comic book authors is in this collection, I recommend you just read that part and call it a day. Nothing happens in this cross-over, each series replays the same actions over again, just with different characters. I guess this could work for multiple authors, but I didn't use it for the challenge.

Fade Away by Harlan Coben - third book in the Myron Bolitar series, for the "sports" category. For anyone who likes audiobooks and somewhat dark, sarcastic humor, I recommend this mystery series, audiobooks read by Jonathan Marosz.

Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton- for "time of day" - this book was beautifully written, but the ending was deeply disappointing.

Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer - the graphic novel continuation of the "Cinder" series - I have no idea why I waited so long to read this, it was fun and cute and fast and now I get to check out volume 2 from the library right away!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - a modern classic that I've never read, doesn't fit a category here but I'm using it for "letters A,T,Y" in the AtY challenge. I generally don't love "coming of age" stories, and this was no exception.

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories - Denis Johnson was a genius and I am so sad that he is gone. I absolutely loved this collection of short stories, the audiobook was fantastic, but this isn't for everyone. I think you either love Johnson or you don't. This could probably be used for "about death or grief," but that's a bit of a stretch so I'm leaving that open for now.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker- another modern classic that somehow I had never read before! It was really great, and also checked off my "favorite color."

Question of the Week:

For books made into movies, do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie first? What is your favorite movie made from a book? Have you read that book yet?

I prefer to read the book first. 95% of the time, the book is better. I enjoy seeing the movie, too, it's fun to see someone else's vision for the pictures inside my head. If it's a book I REALLY loved, sometimes I'm scared to see the movie, afraid they will ruin it for me somehow.

But sometimes I don't know about the book before I see the movie! One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride, I only learned about the book a few years back, and I STILL haven't read that book. Maybe this year ...

There are a lot of books I could read for the "saw the movie first" category, and I'm really interested in all of them, I don't know what I'll choose:

Princess Bride
Psycho
American Psycho
Let the Right One In
I Am Legend
Brokeback Mountain
No Country for Old Men

On the train to work (4:30am ugh) so more later when I can type.

I felt the same way about Good Morning, Midnight. Such a let down.

QOTW:
Movie first! I enjoy both books and movies, so why would I intentionally ruin the movies? Watch first, enjoy movie for what it is, then read the book. The book usually has so much extra stuff it's still interesting, and if it's different I'm not mad, because it's the source material. Win-win.

Probably my favourite movie that came from a book is The Thin Man! The book is fine, but William Powell and Myrna Loy really gave it an extra zip. Completely delightful.

I had a slow reading week. My in-laws were in town so I had less down time than usual.
I read:
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep as a book set in the decade I was born. I liked this book more than I expected.
The Jane Austen Project for a book about time travel. I did not like this book at all and probably would not have finished it if I weren't reading it with family members.
The Bear and the Nightingale which I loved, so thanks to everyone who recommended it.
This morning I finished The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle- a children's chapter book that was bittersweet. I would recommend it to fifth and sixth graders who like realistic fiction that is a little more thought provoking than most books for that age.

QOTW: Book first- always. I know it is totally typical and unimaginative but my favorite book and movie combination is Pride and Prejudice (movie with Colin Firth obviously).

Happy Reading this week!

This week I read 3 books so am now at 14/52
(Edit: so annoying you can't add books in the app or edit your posts)

Today I got 2 books I had on hold on overdrive yay!! Been waiting for them to become available.

Read this week:
No. 12 A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Had no idea what I was getting myself in to. I liked it.
No. 22 A book with alliteration in the title Beautiful Bastard It was ok..

And not for the challenge: Beautiful Stranger

DNF:
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation I am not quite sure what I expected but I am 16% in and so far I have only heard statistic and mentioning of names so I am DNF this one unfortunately. Maybe I will try again another time but for now it just can't hold my attention.

Currently reading:
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
The Taming of the Shrew



Qotw: I don’t have a preference some I don’t know are books so see the movie first others I read the books and then they become movies.

With Harry Potter I came in late to the game.(Boys were more interesting at that point than books) I then saw the first movie and loved it. I didn’t want to read the books and then potentially ruin the movies. So waited till the movies were out until I read he book that went with the movie. I loved reading the books afterwards as there are so much information in them that aren’t in the movies. (Sorry is on a bus writing this so there might be some weird words or spelling 😊)

Read the ‘guernsey literary potato peel pie society’ last year and it is soon coming out in the cinema so looking forward to that.

I actually had a hard time reading ‘the fellowships of the ring’ this year as I love the movie so much but there were so many different things that I had a hard time with the book. Usually I can separate but struggled not to compare.

I finished 2 books this week:

Beartown for the book about a sport challenge. This is that rare book that lived up to all the hype. I loved it, 5 stars.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for the author of a different ethnicity. Like Nadine, I found this book difficult to get through. I listened to the audiobook, and her reading style did not help to get through a 10 hour audiobook. Some parts moved along, but most of it was just a slog.

Currently Reading:
Sandstorm at my husband's recommendation, I guess I can use it for the weather category. It's pretty interesting, lots of archaeology.

Listening to Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between. Not sure if I can use it for this challenge. It's moving along at a very zippy pace, unlike the previous audiobook.

QOTW:
I always want to read the book first. I have no interest in reading a book after seeing the movie. That prompt is going to be very difficult for me. Then again, looking at Nadine's list I read these books after seeing the movies and liked them all very much:

The Princess Bride
American Psycho
I Am Legend
Brokeback Mountain

In all cases the movie was very good, but reading the book added something to the experience. Maybe I need to pick a movie that I saw so long ago that I hardly remember it.

The Princess Bride is my favorite movie, and it was made from a book. Which I also did not know for a very long time.

Happy Thursday – Slow week for me, but I have a couple behemiths on my list. I’m tackling one of those this month (and I didn’t reduce the size of my current reads to compensate).

#34 The Queen of Hearts– Debut novel from Kimmery Smith. I won this as an Advanced Reading Copy. That said, I was prepared to give it 3 ½ stars, until the ending. It’s at a solid 4 stars now. Dr. Smith put together a complex work: chick-lit, medical drama, and suspense. As a suspense fan, I want to forewarn that this isn’t Gone Girl – in fact, the basic component of the suspense is predicable. The nuances though – those are complex and what I enjoyed. Dr. Smith’s best parts of the novel are when one of the two friends, Zadie, is interacting with children. As a mother of four and a pediatric cardiologist, she does that quite a bit. We follow a roughly twenty year friendship of Zadie and Emma, through their residency, the suspense bit, Zadie’s relationship with her senior associate in medical school, and their modern day lives: marriages, children, the sudden appearance of Zadie’s old beau, and a possible lawsuit. My biggest complaints are the frequent buffoonery of Emma’s husband and the ridiculous children’s names – who names their daughter after Mr. Bean? I’d classify this as a beach read and it was my published in 2018. 352 pages.

#44 The Secret Place -- Tana French’s fifth book was okay. Her early Irish mysteries are better. In this one, the Dublin Murder squad takes on an aging case in a Catholic girls’ boarding school. As an Irish American and an alumna of Catholic education, this was a wonderful fit for my heritage! As a warning, Ms. French’s language can be vulgar. 3 stars. 452 pages

Currently reading:
Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit -- this would work for my already completed #6 novel based on a real person, but I am also doing a 50 states challenge where this is my Nevada and a vacation preparatory reading plan for my “3 Presidents and a King” fall vacation through Tennessee where this is my King book. I get verklempt over cozy mysteries sometimes. I feel they used to be better! After my real #6 (On This Rockne) and this 1990s book, I think I’ve proved my point. The research is far better! There is a ton of Elvis information here – I know it’s not a biography, but there is still great information on his relationship with his mother, Priscilla, and the Colonel, as well as songs he recorded and why fans adore him to this day. Enjoying it! Plus, who doesn’t like blue suede shoes. 432 pages

#41 The Burden of Proof – When I reviewed the best sellers from my graduating year of high school, 1990, I was surprised at how many I had already read! What can I say – I love Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne! So here I find myself in Scott Turow’s crime drama of over 600 pages. Sandy Stern, a criminal defense attorney, returns from a business trip to find his wife dead in the garage from carbon monoxide poisoning. It's too sexually graphic for my tastes, but since I'm working with such a tiny list of books and the ones I didn't want to read were Danielle Steele, I'll skim those parts.

DNF:
This Is Where It Ends I made it about a chapter in before I said NOPE! It was that bad. It is violent, but that wasn't my issue. Texting as part of the book and teen angst -- no -- can't take that! I'm going to focus on reading that has some quality to it.

QOTW Movies made from books. I always read first. In fact, I generally get annoyed with the movie because of casting or portrayals. I don’t like the movies that much in general so I can’t even think of one I thought was done as well as the book, save Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

Good Morning.

17/50

Only finished 1 book last week.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Counting that as a book with an Antihero.
Not as good as The Goldfinch but a very good book. Has some rookie problems but overall I enjoyed it.

My cold is still hanging on but I'm feeling better.

QOTW:

I usually like to have read the book first, but it is a double edge sword. Knowing one version of the story risks losing the suspension of disbelief in the movie. That sudden thought, "this isn't how it happens in the book" can be distracting.

My favorite movie made from a book is probably , 'The Godfather'

I saw it before I read the book, and the movie is arguably better than the book, but it has been a while.

Good morning,

It feels like spring in here but I know it's a false joy. There is probably one or two snowstorms left until the end of March.

I finished only one book toward the challenge: Polina. I will use it for a book involving a sport, ballet in this case. It was a great graphic novel, the kind that I like when not a lot of things happens but you can follow someone's live.

Still reading The Eye of the World for another group read.

QOTW: I like watching the movie first, but I don't really mind. Most of the time I find the book better than the movie.

My favorite movie made from a book must be Shawshank Redemption taken from Different Seasons. I really love the BBC serie of Pride and Prejudice and the Ang Lee version of Sense and Sensibility.

I just wrote a whole update and forgot to submit it and now it's all gone :( I don't feel like writing it again so I'm just going to answer the QOTW

I typically like to read the book first but my TBR list is so long that sometimes that doesn't happen. There have been a few occasions where I watched the show/movie first and it helped a lot (A Game of Thrones anyone?) A couple times I did prefer the movie to the book - Stardust, The Notebook. I really love book/movie/show adaptations, they're one of my favorite "genres" to read.

I had another good reading week. I'm surprised at how quickly I'm reading lately. It must be the gloomy weather keeping me inside so much.

Finished
The Steady Running of the Hour (a book with a time of day in the title) - I rated this book 1-star and I'm not sorry about it. I only made it through the book by skipping most of the chapters in the past. The descriptions were tedious and irrelevant to the plot. What a bore.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (true crime) - I thought I'd whine about this category until the bitter end, but Erik Larson is a gifted storyteller. His description of H. H. Holmes' murders were frank, but not too graphic.

Death on the Nile (a book that is also a stage play or musical) - I don't really like mysteries, but I enjoyed the movie Murder on the Orient Express, so I decided to read a Poirot novel. I absolutely loved it! I'll read more Agatha Christie for sure.

Reading
I haven't actually started any new books yet, but I'm planning to start Animals Strike Curious Poses and The House of Velvet and Glass today.

QOTW
I almost always watch the movie first. If it's interesting to me, I'll read the book. If I read the book first, I'm almost always disappointed that something is left out or changed in the movie. I don't mind finding new or different things in the book, though.

Hello from Columbus! This week I feel like I read a lot, but in reality they were mostly short books, and some that I had read before.


A Red Herring Without Mustard I think I’m just going to keep adding the Flavia de Luce series to the next book in a series I already started category as they pop up in my overdrive app. These are such fun books though I don’t know if I adore the rest of the series as much as I loved the first. They’re still a nice, quick mystery and I’m interested to know how the characters lives unfold.

Dearly Devoted Dexter is just going in the anti-hero category with Darkly Dreaming. When I realized after the first book the the books go in a different direction than the show, I wanted to see how the characters end up in this universe. So far I’ve been able to knock these out in a day. I was really sad that at no point did Sgt Doakes say “surprise motherfucker” but hey, not everything can be perfect.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything I was originally only going to read the third book for the set in space prompt, but it had been a few years since I read the first two so I decided to breeze through them first to make sure I remembered everything. The third book was nearly as amusing to me as the first two but I still loved it. Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and finish the series this year.

Sense and Sensibility was my pick for a book made into a play prompt. This prompt was kind of hard because I felt like I should pick something that’s more known from the play/musical but none of those options really spoke to me. Oh well, I’m always happy to revisit Austen! If you were to ask me to pick a favorite I really don’t think I could because I adore all of her work. I guess it just depends on my mood lol.

QOTW: I generally prefer to read the book first but i won’t not see a movie if I hadn’t had the chance to read the book first. I generally love all movie adaptions, and find the people who flail over movies “ruining” books to be so tiresome. But I guess I don’t have the expectation that a movie will be an exact replica, because that’s not what an adaption is supposed to be. And I love seeing how other people took the material and envisioned the characters and setting. I love the work, thought, and detail that goes into movie production (one of my very best friends from high school has been in a few movie adaptions and I guess maybe that makes me appreciate it more). I couldn’t even pick a favorite movie. Off the top of my head, I really loved the newer Jane Eyre, I felt it really portrayed that creepy vibe the book gave me well. I did like A Single Man more than the book. Tom Ford took quality material and turned it into something ethereal.

Hey everybody!

I've done quite a lot of reading this week but none of it relevant to the challenge (or at least not that I've thought of yet). Some of the books I've read would fit into challenge prompts that I've already ticked off (A Room of One's Own, The Female Eunuch and Things I Don't Want to Know for feminism, The Problem of Pain for death and The Unbearable Lightness of Being for a country that fascinates me), and some were just things I fancied reading, including the amazing Eat Up: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want and Gulliver's Travels which I've only just got round to after meaning to read it for years.

I did buy a couple of books which I can use for prompts next week though! I picked up My Cousin Rachel for a book where I've already seen the movie and A Wrinkle in Time for time travel. I'm really excited to read both of them!

For the QOTW, I would generally prefer to have read the book first (that's why I'm trying to read A Wrinkle in Time before the movie comes out!) but it wouldn't stop me seeing a movie if I wanted to. I hate people who are snobs about always reading the book first - particularly with classics. I started loving classic books through watching Jane Austen adaptations with my mum and those are really important memories for me, so I have very little patience with people on their high horse about books always being better than movies.

Two of my fave book-movie relationships are definitely Gone Girl and Brokeback Mountain, taken from the story in Close Range. I enjoyed the Gone Girl book but didn't think it was the best thing in the whole world ever, then Rosamund Pike and David Fincher made the most amazing movie out of it! Her slow, low, somehow-inherently-psychopathic voice MADE that movie. Then, Close Range is one of my top five books ever written probably, definitely my favourite book of short stories, and I'm so in awe of the screenwriter and director making a movie that was somehow incredibly true to the story out of so little material. This QOTW has made me need to go reread Close Range now...

Hi everyone! Time has flown by since last check-in. When I was figuring out what I read this week, I was shocked at how many books I finished because it felt like I was so busy I didn’t have any reading time. Anyway….although I did finish several books this week, only 1 was for Popsugar. I’m now at 11/50, with 22 books completed so far in 2018.

Books I read this week:
For Popsugar
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon for a book about a problem affecting society today (A9), since one of the main characters is a teenager who is to be deported. Her family came to the U.S. when she was 8 illegally, and due to her father’s DUI they have to go back to Jamaica. At its heart, though, it really is a YA Romance, and Yoon does an excellent job of describing the feelings teenagers have. I thought the last 25% of the book was a little over the top, but I can see why it is a popular YA novel.

For other challenges
Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan. This was average; it is the first book in a series about a private investigator who returns to his home of San Antonio, Texas after a decade away in California. It was written in the mid-1990’s and the main character is 29, so as long as I remembered those 2 facts I was okay. I’ll give book #2 in the series a shot at some point before giving up on it.

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. This is #2 in the Dresden Files series. I thought this was just okay. From what I’ve heard this series gets better at book 3 or 4, so I’ll give it another chance.

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell. Boy, Peter King and SJP have some vision, because the TV show was a million times better than the book in this case. I’ve seen all of the episodes and could pick out details that were used in the show, but basically none of the shows characters were represented in the same way as they were in the book. I would have DNF, but I was able to get through it while multi-tasking.

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. This was creepy at times, but it wasn’t my favorite classic. I think it would have worked just as well or better as a short story.


I am currently reading:
Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker for a time of day in the title (8).
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. Not sure where I am going to slot this one yet since I have a couple of options..

QOTW: 95% of the time I read the book first. I like to envision the scenery and characters in my head. I don't mind knowing what happens before I watch, and I always find it fun to compare how the producers & director put the movie together versus how it played in my head while reading.

Sometimes, though, I'll see the movie first simply because I didn't realize it was a book. I agree with the few other people who said they loved The Princess Bride. I've already filled the book-to-movie prompt for this challenge with Practical Magic, but I do have other options in case I end up moving that book to another spot (American Psycho, I Am Legend).

Been doing a major shifting project at work -- we're rearranging the books in the library to make more room, and boy, one does not realize how heavy paper can be until you have to move several hundred bricks of it. XD We don't stop and think that books are basically blocks of repurposed wood with writing in them... which makes the fact that they're so captivating even more fascinating.

This week I read two books toward the challenge and a graphic novel not for the challenge:

The Left Hand of Darkness -- book set on another planet. I bumped this one up the to-read list after Ursula K. Le Guin's death, and as I both loved her A Wizard of Earthsea and heard excellent things ab out "Left Hand of Darkness," I had high hopes... but I felt this one was "just okay."

Afternoon of the Elves -- book with a time of day in the title. A short but surprisingly complex YA read, and unexpectedly dark in places.

Low Moon -- not for the challenge. Still on my quest to read as much of Jason's work as possible, or at least as much of it as has been translated into English...

QOTW:

I almost always try to read the book before watching the movie, though there are couple cases where I didn't realize said movie was based on a book until after I'd seen it, such as the aforementioned The Princess Bride. Funnily enough, "The Princess Bride" was required reading my freshman year of high school, which I found both bizarre and awesome.

My absolute favorite movie adapted from a book is The Last Unicorn. As kids my siblings and I watched this one so many times we broke the rental VHS (oops!), and when I revisited it as an adult I found I had much of the dialogue still memorized, but was also startled at how freaking SAD it was too. Though that doesn't stop it from still being a magnificent film.

I've since not only read the book it's based on (as well as the graphic novel adaptation), but had a chance to meet the author and get him to sign my copy of both book and movie. Both book and movie are fantastic, and the movie is incredibly faithful to the book (only one major scene gets cut).

Anne wrote: ". . .my favorite book and movie combination is Pride and Prejudice (movie with Colin Firth obviously). "

I like the cut of your jib, my good lady! :)

Finished this week

Feet of Clay - liked it a lot. Nigel Planer is an awesome reader, and he adjusted Angua's voice in this one which was nice - she no longer sounds like a troll. The next City Watch book immediately went on my TBR.

Started this week

Magpie Murders - pretty obsessed so far! Nota bene: either my Kindle or I got confused and I wound up skipping the first part of the book! Luckily I figured it out shortly and went back to read the frame tale intro so I'm good to go now.

Explain Pain - this was borrowed from a friend, but I realized it works as a microhistory too - might need to juggle some prompts around.

QOTW

I usually like to read the book first. I'm terrible at imagining visuals (I wind up with something akin to the obscuring mist around all the shots in Caillou, only even hazier), so I love reading a book and then having Hollywood make my jaw drop with the visuals.

My favorite movie from a book is probably Enchanted April, which actually is a rare case of the movie being better all around.

Good morning everyone!

It's been so busy lately that my reading just hasn't picked up much. I did manage to finish a few audiobooks this week that had been in the works for a while.

Books Finished:

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin. Very appropriate considering the question of the week. I had watched the PBS show a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Then I picked up the audiobook in an Audible sale and dove right in. It was fantastic! Using for my novel based on a real person.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling. This is a reread (audio) for me. I generally don't use rereads for the challenge. I have been listening to HP at night to help me get to sleep. Set the sleep timer on the audible app for 30 minutes and off I go falling asleep to Jim Dale's voice. I can only do this for books I know really well :)

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley. This was recommended by several friends. I tried to read it in print but just couldn't get into it. Then I saw the audio on sale earlier this week so I gave that a try. It made all the difference! I don't currently have this slated for anything, but it would work for a book take involves a bookstore (traveling bookstore, that is).

Currently reading:

A Little Life - I'm about a third through this book. Everyone says it is an emotional rollercoaster so I'm worried about what remains in store for me as I progress through!

The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir on audio

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - this is my bedtime audio companion so it will take me a while to get through!

Question of the week:

I usually try to read the book before I see the movie if I'm really interested. There are quite a few movies that I have seen first either because I wasn't that interested in reading the book or because I didn't know the book existed.

I have a couple books I plan to read soon which I have already seen movies of:

Pollyanna
Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Fiction, Literary

As for my favorite movie based on a book, I think The Princess Bride will always be the best. I was really pleased with how the Harry Potter movies turned out. Yes they were different in some ways, but I think they kept the spirit of the story which is what matters most.

I'm still making my way through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Still stuck at 3/52. I usually read more in the summer time anyways so I'm not too worried about being this behind.

QOTW I try to read the book first. I liked Gone Girl, and I love the The Hobbit movies. And of course Harry Potter Boxset

Hello everyone!
So this week I finished one book: El héroe discreto by Mario Vargas Llosa (the discreet hero). I used it for the prompt a book from a local author. MVLL was born in my hometown Arequipa and he is one of my favorite authors. This book was really really good. I haven't read anything by him for a long time and I found a sense of comfortability while reading this book. Like meeting an old friend.

7/50

QOTW: I usually prefer to read the book before seeing the movie, but sometimes it happens that I see a movie (and actually enjoy it) and find out later that it's been based on a book. When I enjoy a book and the movie comes up, I do feel afraid that the movie will be terrible. This is actually happening right now with Ready Player One. I don't like what I've been seeing about the movie so far. Sigh

The season of Lent as begun and I try to limit my computer time. I don't have time to many of the posts today and I have to keep mine short which is easy because I am still reading the same books as last week only finished The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog and I am not sure if it fits in this particular challenge.

QotW: I like to read the book first before seeing the movie to avoid comparing it too harshly, but that doesn't always happen.

Kenya wrote: "Been doing a major shifting project at work -- we're rearranging the books in the library to make more room, and boy, one does not realize how heavy paper can be until you have to move several hund..."

Are the tendons between your thumbs and forefingers stretched yet? Are your palms red and sore? Are you blowing dust out of your nose??

I've done four shifting projects in my life. The hardest, by far, was shifting the book stacks. You think you can hold four hardback books in each hand, but you can't. You shouldn't. You only realize this the next day when your thumbs feel like they're falling off. I learned many lessons during that project that have made shifting other collections much easier. Although, I did have a learning curve when I shifted the print journal collection two summers ago. You would think a Princeton file of magazines is pretty light, but it's not and you end up dropping 5 pounds of paper and metal on your foot. Who knew librarianship could be so dangerous?

Good morning! I am in a "juggling lots of books" period in my reading life right now, mostly because my city's metro is closed for four weeks for emergency repairs (yay, crumbling infrastructure!) so I've been forced to drive and listen to audiobooks while having a print book or two (or three....) going at home.

Finished: Hate to Want You, which I'll use for an author of a different ethnicity. This was much raved about last year by people who's judgment in romance I trust and it was quite different from my usual read but I liked it well enough.

Currently reading:
Grant. This is my Everest. It's 960 pages, not including end notes. I'm 1/3 in and actually have it requested from another library so I can keep reading when my current copy is due back next week (yeah, being that person). This might be my favorite prompt from past years because I like being forced to tackle a gargantuan book.

The Sound and the Fury. I debated DNFing this but I was enjoying the challenge of trying to grasp what was going on and may have figured out some of the structure (it's like cracking a code) before I had to put it down last month. It's also a past Oprah pick, so it counts as a celebrity book club book.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This is my audiobook -- I got the COMPLETE Sherlock Holmes on Audible with a credit last year but I'm just listening to the section comprising the "adventures." It's been quite a few years since I sat down with these stories and it's fun trying to remember the solution.

Sing, Unburied, Sing. This is my book club's February pick and we're meeting Wednesday so even though I have three books in progress I had to pick it up too... Yikes.

QOTW: I usually don't have a preference for movie or book first.... if the plot of an upcoming movie based on a book sounds good, I'll get in line at the library but I don't put off seeing the movie. Since the book and movie are usually different, it's a different experience whichever order you go in!

Kenya wrote: "Been doing a major shifting project at work -- we're rearranging the books in the library to make more room, and boy, one does not realize how heavy paper can be until you have to move several hund..."

And the dust gets everywhere! Hands, nose, clothes... I once moved an entire rather large library from one building to another. We had movers to fill and move the boxes, but we unpacked in the other end. In other words; I feel you.

Brooke wrote: "Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. This is #2 in the Dresden Files series. I thought this was just okay. From what I’ve heard this series gets better at book 3 or 4, so I’ll give it another chance.

Yes, definitely keep going! I have read all of the Harry Dresden books up to this point (still waiting patiently for Peace Talks to come out (taps foot impatiently)) and IMHO Fool Moon was the worst of the bunch. That being said, it was still pretty darn good! My favorite is Dead Beat which contains the most memorable scene I have ever read.

My son, my baby, my little man turned 20 this week. He went to visit his sister to celebrate with her and my husband was out of town for business so I had the house to myself for a few days.

I started and finished A Man Called Ove, and loved it. This book warmed my heart. Ove reminded me so much of my grandfather and his love for his wife and his broken heart after she passed. My grandfather lived to see my grandmother again in the great beyond. The day he passed away he asked his hospice care giver to trim up his nose and ear hairs so he could look good for his wife when he got there. As soon as she was finished, he took a breath and told her he was going to finally see his Dolly again, then closed his eyes and passed away. My grandfather was not as cranky as Ove but the love they shared for their wives was quite fantastic. My father on the other hand, will be exactly like Ove. He is already quite cranky but will do anything within his power to help a fellow human while complaining about it the entire time. I believe my love for this book comes from the deep personal connections I made with Ove and my family members. I give it 5 stars and highly recommend it. I used this as my book about death or grief.

QOTW
I try not to read books where I have already seen the movie. I feel like there are too many books to read and I already know the story of that particular one. I will watch a movie if I really loved the book but I usually end up hating the movie because they always seem to have just enough differences to make me mad.

A few examples:
The Lovely Bones - Loved this book and hated the movie. Hated it so much it made me mad. The book was so lovely but the movie was so drab and dark.
My Sister's Keeper - Absolutely loved the book and if I remember correctly I was mad at the movie because the ending was different from the book.
Big Little Lies - I was trying to read this book as part of a group read while I was watching the series. I had to stop watching the series because there were characters in the book that were not present in the series and the story lines differed to the point I was becoming too confused on what happened and if it was in the book or the series.

My favorite book to movie has to be Gone Girl. I loved the movie but have not read the book.

Unauthorized Cinnamon wrote: "Feet of Clay - liked it a lot. Nigel Planer is an awesome reader, and he adjusted Angua's voice in this one which was nice - she no longer sounds like a troll. The next City Watch book immediately went on my TBR...."

Nigel Planer? AKA Neil from "The Young Ones"? I must listen to this now!

Warm greetings from freezing Prague!

I finished 3 books this week, all for Popsugar Challenge, with some I can check off prompts for my Czech challenge.

1. The Minority Report for the cyberpunk prompt. It was recommended in that prompt discussion and I loved it because it was intense, if short, and totally different from the movie.
2. The Mummy for the novel based on a real person prompt. As far as I was able to find, Imhotep was definitely real, so I used it there.
3. Two Boys Kissing for the LGBTQ+ protagonist prompt. I loved this book, even though at times it made me sad or angry at people for being stupid or ignorant...

Currently reading:
Jason & Kyra for the author with the same name as me prompt. It's a bit flat I think, but I'm 1/3 in, so maybe it will pick up. Or maybe it's a punishment for always choosing YA. :D

QotW: So, my first two books are tied closely to this weeks question. Honestly, most of the times I don't even know there's a book, unless it's a well known classic title. So I don't insist on reading the book before watching the movie, although seeing the movie first sometimes lowers my willingness to read the book. Sometimes it's great (Princess Bride) and sometimes you just ask yourself, why read this? The movie was exactly the same, the book offers nothing more (I had this feeling from Paper Towns). Does anyone know that feeling, when you see a great movie and in the end credits you see: "Based on a book ..." and you squeal: "OMG, there's a BOOK! I need to read it ASAP!"? Happens to me all the time :D

I have way too many books on my currently reading list--hopefully I'll have less going on in my life the next few days and knock a few of them out. (I'm only listing here the ones that I actually read out of during the past week--there are more that are 'inactive' but I'm in the middle of.)

Currently Reading:
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age My audiobook for the song lyric prompt. Not sure yet if I'm going to enjoy this--if it's interesting stories about old movie stars and how movies were made back then I'll like it, but I'm concerned that it's going to be more about scandals and clothes and things I don't care about.

Elizabeth Street This is my main audio book right now, for the 'novel based on a real person' prompt. I'm really drawn in by this one, so I'm racing through it, even though it was unexpectedly sad in places. (I only started the other audio book now because this one is too stressful for when my sister is around and we're both doing chores in the same vicinity.)

Perfectly Creamy Frozen Yogurt: 56 Amazing Flavors plus Recipes for Pies, Cakes Other Frozen Desserts A NetGalley book I really need to finish up--I just lost my groove, and need to test at least one recipe before I put up a review anyway.

The Splitting After a run of mediocre YA, I'm enjoying that this one has more adventure and maturity/responsibility and less teen angst. I'm using this for my book set an another planet.

A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love This is short book, and seems good so far, I just haven't spent much time on it.

Finished Reading:
The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations I'm glad I read this for a glimpse of an era and experience I wasn't familiar with, but I didn't love it.

Food Wars!, Vol. 1 I read this for my previous year's prompt (graphic novel) and it was a lot of fun! My first manga, and maybe even my first graphic novel ever, so I could practically feel my brain going as I got used to reading it right to left instead of left to right. :-) There were some parts that felt weird to me, but I liked it enough to put the next few in the series at hold at the library anyway.

QOTW:
Generally, I prefer to read the book first and only watch the movie if looks like it's going to be a reasonably good adapation. There are a few books I was introduced to by the movie though, like Emma and Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour A&E version, of course), and that was very effective at getting me to read good books that I'd previously ignored.

Very occasionally, I think the movie was better than the book. Alice in Wonderland is a great example of this. I have put The Phantom of the Opera in that category too, but after seeing a review of it recently, the description was so different from my experience I'm wondering if I accidentally got a hold of an abridged version and should give the book another chance. (Both of those are probably in the running for favorite movies based on books, though some of the Jane Austen movies and Elizabeth Gaskell mini-series are up there too. I'm planning to use North and South for the movie prompt.)

There are also a few movies that I think just did a good solid job of adapting the book, The Hunger Games being the most prominent in my mind.

I may be one of those 'tiresome' people who makes a big deal about the movie being accurate to the book, but I do allow somewhat for it being an adaptation--I understand if they have to cut out parts for time and change minor things. But when they start adding entire sub-plots that weren't in the book (*cough* The Two Towers *cough*) or completely miss/ruin the point of the book like Ender's Game then I have a problem with it.

Sara wrote: "and off I go falling asleep to Jim Dale's voice. I can only do this for books I know really well."

This is how I fell asleep when I was younger, until the Lord of the Rings soundtrack came out. Just finished Harry Potter on audio with my kid a couple of weeks ago! Jim Dale is amazing.

I finished 4 books this week:

I finally finished Dragonfly in Amber, which I used for "Ancestry" as I am both Scottish and French (and a bunch of other stuff). I liked it, but it started out really slow. Could have been about 300 pages shorter in the beginning. The end was very exciting though! Going to start the 3rd in the series this weekend I hope.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles I read for a buddy read and stuck it in the "Death or Grief" prompt, because, well, it's a murder mystery. Not as good as Murder on the Orient Express, but enjoyable.

The Woman in Cabin 10. My friend bugged me to read this one "with" her, but I couldn't put it down and I don't think she's even started it yet. It had its flaws but I absolutely loved it anyway. Used this for "Set at Sea"

Son and I finished the audio of The Lightning Thief. I used it for "Weather Element in Title." Not a fan of the narrator. The book was cute, but not my favorite thing. My kid absolutely loved it though. He wanted to watch the movie, which he also loved (I hate it). We will be listening to the rest of the series because he wants to and I'm a nice mom.

Working on:
The Cuckoo's Calling for Male Pseudonym
The Carnivorous Carnival (not for a challenge)
Beartown for Sports. Waiting for this to get as good as everyone is saying.

QOTW:
I do prefer to read the book first, but sometimes it doesn't happen. My favorite movie made from a book is Lord of the Rings. I saw Fellowship of the Ring, and then immediately came home and read the entire trilogy (although my dad had already read me The Hobbit, so I at least knew it existed). Been meaning to reread that actually.

I will be reading Neverwhere for the prompt towards the end of the year. I saw the movie years ago and loved it. I like Neil Gaiman but never got around to reading this one.

Kristel wrote: "When I enjoy a book and the movie comes up, I do feel afraid that the movie will be terrible. This is actually happening right now with Ready Player One. I don't like what I've been seeing about the movie so far. Sigh ."

My husband felt the same way after seeing the first trailer for the Ready Player One movie, and was going to refuse to the see the movie if it was that far off. When the next trailer came out though he decided it was worth giving it a try since it looked closer to the book.

Where did that week go? I don't have much to update today as I didn't really read much at the weekend and just read in tiny portions during the week.

Finished River of Teeth for Read Harder's western prompt. It's got hippos instead of horses and it's not even set in the West but Book Riot did include it in their suggested reads for the prompt so I feel justified. It was fun and definitely felt like a western but it was a bit unsubstantial. I thought about counting it for Popsugar's antihero prompt but it didn't quite fit.

I am nearly finished The Stone Sky the final book in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy. I didn't want to put it down last night, these books are soooo good. I saw The Fifth Season mentioned in the allegory thread so I might count it for that but it wasn't really a challenge read.

Also reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles for country I am fascinated by (Japan).

QOTW:
There are plenty of films where I'm not bothered about reading the book at all. If it's fiction I tend to prefer to read the book first or wait a very long time between watching and reading. I lose interest in a novel if I know what's going to happen. If it's non-fiction I think the books can fill in a lot of gaps so I don't mind which way round. I watched Hidden Figures recently and still intend on reading the book.

Good morning all! I was traveling this past weekend and ended up getting a lot of reading done on the several trains & planes.

Finished

- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society -- book with a fruit or veggie in the title. I liked this book quite a bit, though some parts felt a little slow for me. It's a very lovely story, nonetheless, and I'm excited for the movie to come out this year. The preview came out yesterday or the day before and it looks wonderful.

- Bring Me Back -- book with an ugly cover. I won an advanced copy through a Goodreads giveaway and was really excited to pick this book up because I've heard a lot of praise for B.A. Paris's other novels, which I haven't had a chance to read yet. This book was "meh" in my opinion. While the premise is captivating and I didn't want to put the book down, some of the twists were unbelievable to me.

- The Perfect Nanny -- book by an author of a different ethnicity than you. I couldn't put this book down either! This book is intense and messes with your mind. It's also been interpreted as a social commentary, but it isn't in your face about it. This book creeps under your skin and stays with you for a long time. Highly recommend!

- Everything You Want Me to Be -- book with song lyrics in the title. I also loved this book. A captivating thriller with twists that I was not expecting at all.

This puts me at 7/52 for the challenge so far.

Currently Reading

- After Perfect: A Daughter's Memoir -- book by a local author. The author was raised in a suburb of Washington, DC. It's a memoir about the challenges the author, her sisters, and family faced after her father, Tom Proualis, plead guilty to charges of fraud (akin to Jordan Belfort). It's an interesting reading, but I'm not the biggest fan of the author's writing style. It feels like she tries too hard at the end of certain stories to come across as reflective or philosophical. That said, her story is very compelling and is from a different point of view than one we get on the news.

QotW

I try my best to read the books before watching the movie, but there are some movies I've seen before reading the book, like the aforementioned The Princess Bride or Carol/The Price of Salt.

A few of my favorite books --> movies have to be The Time Traveler's Wife and The Light Between Oceans. So good!

Good morning, everyone!

I finished only one book last week:
#21 favorite color - Purple Hibiscus, which I thought was wonderful. I was completely drawn in by the main character.

I started two, almost three, others:
#2 true crime - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This has a keen sense of place and is very atmospheric. Nothing relating to the crime has happened yet, but I feel a real unease, like something will be happening!

#1 movie I've seen - The Whale Rider. This reads like a myth, a story being told to people around a campfire on the beach, which it is supposed to be. Fun and a bit different.

#32 celebrity book club (Reese Witherspoon) - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I have barely started. It's another try at an audio book and it simply wouldn't download. (Error! Error! Error!) Finally got it to work somehow. This book fits several prompts, but I'm using it here because I had fewer choices for this topic.

Question of the Week

I prefer to read the book before seeing the movie, and generally I end up preferring the book to the movie. A Hologram for the King is an exception, I liked the movie more than the book. Sometimes I like both book and movie quite a bit, like the first two or three Harry Potter movies. Like Water for Chocolate is another that I think translated well to the big screen.

Fannie wrote: "My favorite movie made from a book must be Shawshank Redemption taken from Different Seasons..."

Yes! That is a fantastic movie made from a book :) I prefer the movie actually.

11/50

Enjoying a couple of days of beautiful weather in central Virginia before the freezing temperature hit again this weekend!

I read 2 books this week:

A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR reading challenge: I finished The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion which I had seen somebody recommend on a post. I love Fannie Flagg so I had high hopes for this book. It wasn't my favorite, but I did enjoy reading it nonetheless.

A book involving a bookstore or library: I also finished Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library with my son. I only wish there was a library like that when I was kid. I would have spent all my time there!

Currently reading This Is How It Always Is. I am about to have a DNF for Autonomous, because I just cannot make myself read anymore of it.

QOTW: I prefer reading a book first, then seeing the movie. When you see the movie first, you don't have a chance to develop your own opinion about how the characters look and act - it's already set in your mind. My favorite book to movie that I've read/seen is The Help. I couldn't have asked for a better fit!

Finished one book this week and I'm at 8 of 50 for the challenge (8/40, 0/10).

Finished
Mrs. Dalloway (31. A book mentioned in another book) This was my first Virginia Woolf and I loved it. It was unlike anything else I've ever read, and much better than other stream of consciousness novels I've attempted.

Working on
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts (4. A book involving a heist) This is a nonfiction book and so far I'm finding it well written and compelling.

Beartown (19. Book involving a sport) I have just begun this, but I have high expectations because I've read and loved 4 of Backman's other books.

DNF
I decided to abandon The Keeper of Lost Causes. It wasn't a bad book, but I just can't with the violence and torture. It probably wasn't even that severe compared to other Nordic noir, but I just found myself anxious every time I was about to listen to the audiobook, and that's not what reading is supposed to be about. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the Nordic noir prompt, but at this point I'm thinking that I may just change it to a "Nordic book" prompt for myself and be okay with that.

QOTW
I love this question! If I'm interested in the book, I like to read the book first, but I've seen plenty of movies where I didn't read the book first. My favorite movies based on books are Field of Dreams, Gone With the Wind, and Silver Linings Playbook, and of those I've only read Gone with the Wind. My favorite recent adaptation of a book I'd already read was Me Before You. I was so nervous about that casting, and I think they got it exactly right.

Cheri wrote: "... Like Water for Chocolate is another that I think translated well to the big screen..."

Fantastic example! I LOVED that movie and I really did NOT like the book. I don't think I've ever had such a strong and disparate reaction to the book/movie.

Well, got in more books this week then last. Finished five books this week. Listing them in their order on the list (and not in the order I finished them:
1. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Tuck Everlasting. Saw the movie a few years ago, now I read the book. (Fitting given this week's QOTW) The movie adds more scenes to the book (well, the book is very short...) IMHO, since it deals with issues of mortality vs immortality, it can also be used as a book about death (in fact, after seeing the movie, I bought the book for my grandchildren who are very concerned about the issue of dying) (#10), I personally borrowed the book (#17, although I filled that slot with s.th. else), #3, a children's classic etc. The book is beautifully written, very poetic descriptions and language, so I'm glad I read it, even though I knew the story. (For the RHBC, fits children's classic b4 1980 and read in one sitting. For AY52, book centered around a secret, associated with water and a few more ),

2. America's First Daughter: A Novel America's First Daughter, which I read for #6, a novel based on a real person. Some feminist issues (#15), two authors (#18). I found it hard to get into Martha Jefferson's voice for the first half of the novel, which took me almost a week to read, but could be because I was too distracted. The second half of the book I finished in two days. So didn't love it, but liked it.

3. Far to Go Far to Go shifts between modern Canada and the Czech Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia in the early WW2 period, and after the child in the book was sent on a kindertransport to Britain, we get a bit of Britain too. Beautifully written novel, and I'm particularly interested in Czechoslovakia during that time period, so for me it fills #7. Also, the author intersperses letters (some based on real period letters) between some of the chapters which provide a poignant insight into the lives of people in that period: the woman worrying why she hasn't heard from a relative, the mother writing to the British mother about her child taken in by them for the war, and so many others. Good read.

4. The Yacoubian Building came well recommended by someone in a class I attend. It provides an inside look at Egyptian society through the residents of one particular building that caters to one shifting class of society in its apartments, and a lower class of society on ramshackle huts built on the building's roof. I used this for #14, by someone of a different ethnicity. The book could probably also be used for the advanced #9 (societal problem), since it also deals with societal issues in Egypt, some of which may manifest themselves differently, but are rife world wide. One character also changes from a moderate, educated young man to a radical Islamist, and terrorist. It was an interesting shift to follow, and another societal problem.

5. A freebie murder mystery, 212 with a female detective providing the third person POV. Writing was well done, and I liked the voice. I also liked how on the last page, the author put in a fresh perspective which left me with a huh, not just another cop finds killer mystery. So, can a book dealing with the murder of a few people be considered a book that deals with death? If so, that's what I'll use it for. And if not, I've posted it, it was a good read, so you can feel free to use it as a "recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge" prompt.

I also read "Silver Scorpion," a comic, for the RHBC, which I could use, in a pinch, as a book with my favorite color, but although it is a comic "book," using a comic book for a book prompt that doesn't specify comic in the prompt seems like cheating. (And I don't do well with favorites. I don't really have favorite anythings: there are a number of colors I like, no single one of them is my favorite. I may love wearing red sweaters and scarves, and silver jewelry but I'd never make myself a red kitchen, or a silver one, for that matter. For that I'd chose a different loved color.)

Which leads me to another question: I started reading.When Stars Die, a fantasy which is definitely written in another world. How do I know if it's also a different planet?

As for the QOTW: I read books as I find them. If I read a book and it comes out as a movie, I may or may not go to see it, but if I see a movie I enjoyed and I know that it was based on a book, then I'll definitely look for the book. I have seen loads of movies that changed the book, most times for the worse, but sometimes for the better. I've also seen movies which seemed to be telling a completely different tale from that in the book, and yet both were good. And yes, mostly I find that the book is better, just because it gives so much more insight and additional details.

One movie that I enjoyed much more than the book is "High Wind in Jamaica" which I saw as a kid (preteen? early teen?) and enjoyed. It's about children being sent alone from Cuba? Jamaica? home to England, back in the late 19th century (early 20th?). They get boarded by pirates, and the kids end up alone with the pirates and the story progresses from there. Anyway, I enjoyed it, so, I took the book out of the library, and absolutely HATED it! It wasn't the dark story line so much as the author's discussion of/attitude towards children. I was seething as I read (I rarely turn a book into a DNF) and growing more and more incensed the more I read. This is going back almost 50 years (so you can see what a strong impression it made), so I don't remember the exact wording, but there was one paragraph where the author has something along the lines that children are like animals but this one teenager was at the age where still animal, she was beginning to turn human. I still find such thinking offensive.

I only compleated one book this week. Twelve Years a Slave it was pretty good. I am now reading Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship for a book discussion at the library. Don’t know if I can fit it into the challenge
Can’t wait for spring, so sick of cold and snow, it’s suppose to b 58 here today. I’m going to open some windows
Also not getting as much reading done because of the olympics. Any other Olympic junkies out there..
QOTW. Usually want to see the movie first. I get very vivid images of the characters in my head and when they don’t match the movie then I don’t want to watch it,

Nadine wrote: ""... Like Water for Chocolate ...Fantastic example! I LOVED that movie and I really did NOT like the book. I don't think I'v..."

I was thinking about it as I wrote my answer, and I think highly atmospheric stories may do well as movies. They lend themselves to visuals. Loved the fire in Like Water for Chocolate!

Fran wrote: "I only compleated one book this week. Twelve Years a Slave it was pretty good. I am now reading Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship for a book di..."

Yes, my reading has definitely slowed down since the Olympics started.

Heather wrote: Are the tendons between your thumbs and forefingers stretched yet? Are your palms red and sore? Are you blowing dust out of your nose??

Not yet, though my arms and back are both pretty sore. People don't stop and realize just how physical a librarian's job can be -- they tend to think we just sit behind a desk and read and go "ssh!" all day. (Truth be told, we get a lot of complaints about how noisy our library is, because we're popular with families and kids...)

Johanne wrote: And the dust gets everywhere! Hands, nose, clothes... I once moved an entire rather large library from one building to another. We had movers to fill and move the boxes, but we unpacked in the other end. In other words; I feel you.

Yay, people know the librarian pain. :) I do love my job, book-hauling and dust be danged, heh...

No finishes again 😩 I don’t know how I’m going to keep up. I have no free time! My 3 year old is being a holy terror, my husband works away, my only babysitter is not available for at least another couple weeks and by the time I get the kids asleep I’m so exhausted I just can’t read!

I’m working on The Stranger Beside me by Ann Rule, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker, and Off The Page by Jodi Picoult and her daughter. I also got Beartown yesterday from the library so hopefully I will finish some of these soon.

QOTW I prefer reading the book first. I think my favourite adaptations are the Martian and shutter island. I read shutter island before and Martian after. Although the princess bride is one of my favourite movies of all time and I haven’t ever read it

Mirel wrote: "...How do I know if it's also a different planet?..."

For me, personally, if the name of the planet is mentioned, or if they fly to and land on the (unnamed-but-clearly-not-Earth) planet, then it counts. If it's a fantasy with strange place names, but the planet is never named, then I don't count it. But I can be strict like that with this category because I enjoy reading a lot of science fiction, so this works for me. We all make it our own challenge!

Nadine wrote: "Cheri wrote: "... Like Water for Chocolate is another that I think translated well to the big screen..."

Fantastic example! I LOVED that movie and I really did NOT like the book. I don't think I'v..."

I felt that way with Under the Tuscan Sun I like the movie but the book was sooo boring. Everything was an etruscan rock or well. They should have done an Etruscan word count before publishing that book....

@Kenya, I love being a librarian too :) and we don't move around those amounts of books etc. often.

Tara wrote: "No finishes again 😩 I don’t know how I’m going to keep up. I have no free time! My 3 year old is being a holy terror, my husband works away, my only babysitter is not available for at least another..."

The years when my children were young were not big reading years. My youngest was born 2006, I think I read maybe two books that year. According to Goodreads I read only 17 books in 2007. You can only do what you can do, and SLEEP was my priority in those days!!!

Tara wrote: "No finishes again 😩 I don’t know how I’m going to keep up. I have no free time! My 3 year old is being a holy terror, my husband works away, my only babysitter is not available for at least another..."

How about trying to relax with an audio? I learned to listen to them during last year's challenge, and use them now when I'm cooking/baking/doing housework and when I'm driving.

Hello from Luna and Maria,

Finished 3 books for this challenge, bringing us to 6/50:

The House of Unexpected Sisters: The Next Book in a Series. Started slowly and feared McCall Smith's 18th book in this series was perhaps one too many, but it ended strong. Lovely new insights into the main character.

Caraval: A Book you Began in 2017. Despite its promise, the island and event of Caraval are disappointingly portrayed. Fantasy needs evocative world building.

Ready Player One: A Book with an Ugly Cover. My daughter lent me the paperback version with a cover I thought ugly from glancing at it. After reading the first couple chapters, I looked more closely at the cover and understood what it is depicting. Never expected to like this book but actually loved it.


QOTW: typically like to read the book first. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is probably my favorite book-to-movie with Harry Potter a close second (but wish the movies had included Winky!)

Nadine wrote: "Mirel wrote: "...How do I know if it's also a different planet?..."

For me, personally, if the name of the planet is mentioned, or if they fly to and land on the (unnamed-but-clearly-not-Earth) pl..."

I guess that's a thought. Thanks!