Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Nadine in NY wrote: "Melissa wrote: "I was pleasantly surprised with the options I found for MM:
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Madeline Miller - I still haven't read The Song ..." Cinder is on my list too!

Would I find an author with the initials Y A ??
If you could give me recommendations I might add this prompt to my list :)

Yusra wrote: "Would I find an author with the initials Y A ??
If you could give me recommendations I might add this prompt to my list :)"


I found a lot of AY but not a lot of YA.

Yasmin Angoe - Her Name Is Knight
Yusuf Atılgan - Aylak Adam
Yukito Ayatsuji - The Decagon House Murders
Yelena Akhtiorskaya - Panic in a Suitcase
Yomi Adegoke - Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible
Yossy Arefi - Snacking Cakes: Simple Treats for Anytime Cravings: A Baking Book

If you want to count a middle initial:
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor - The Dragonfly Sea

Looking for MH authors, please 🙏

Melissa0919 wrote: "Looking for MH authors, please 🙏"

Some ideas for you:
Matt Haig
Molly Harper
Merrie Haskell
Maria Dahvana Headley
M.K. Hobson

Does anyone have any recommendations for VH?

Vickie wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for VH?"

Obviously, Victor Hugo!

also ...

Veronica Henry - How to Find Love in a Bookshop
Virginia Heath - Never Fall for Your Fiancée
Victoria Hanley - The Seer and the Sword
Vanessa Hua - A River of Stars
Victoria Hislop - The Thread
Virginia Hume - Haven Point
Vaughn Heppner - The Lost Starship
Virginia Hartman - The Marsh Queen
Victoria Holt - The Shadow of the Lynx
Virginia Hamilton - M.C. Higgins, the Great
Violaine Huisman - The Book of Mother


... and Dave Grohl's mom Virginia Hanlon Grohl - From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars

Finished The Therapist by B.A. Paris

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

Can anyone help me with “VU”..

AvidReader wrote: "Can anyone help me with “VU”.."



There's not much to choose from in English!! Maybe you want to switch your initials around and read Ursula Vernon?

For VU:
Volker Ullrich - if you're into WWII history, you're all set here.
V.E. Ulett - Golden Dragon & White Elephant
Vicky Ushakova - Breakfast in Five: 30 Low Carb Breakfasts. Up to 5 net carbs, 5 ingredients & 5 easy steps for every recipe.
Valerie Ullmer - Kai
Vincenzina Urzia - Anthony and Me: A Mother's Memoir on Her Son's Drug Addiction

I'm looking for "TS" :)

Terris wrote: "I'm looking for "TS" :)"

If you like The Lord of the Rings, then you should check out something from Professor Tom Shippey, who wrote Author of the Century and The Road to Middle-Earth.

Terris wrote: "I'm looking for "TS" :)"

Tom Stoppard

Terry Southern

T.L. Swan

KT

Karin Tanabe
Kate Thompson
Keith Thompson

I have not read any of these authors. I just looked up authors with my initials.

Karen wrote: "Terris wrote: "I'm looking for "TS" :)"

Tom Stoppard

Terry Southern

T.L. Swan"

Thank you!!!

Has anyone found any with the initials KR? Please and thank you!

Kiley Reid
Katee Robert
Karen Robards
Kelly Rimmer
Kathy Reichs

Karina wrote: "Has anyone found any with the initials KR? Please and thank you!"

Kiley Reid - Such a Fun Age
Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa
Katee Robert - Neon Gods
Kelly Rimmer - The Things We Cannot Say
Kim Michele Richardson - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Kaira Rouda - The Next Wife
Karen Russell - Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories
Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars
Kathleen Rooney - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
Kennedy Ryan - Before I Let Go

and, of course:
Kathy Reichs - Déjà Dead

My initials are SK, and as I am NOT a Stephen King fan, I found a list of authors by last name on Wikipedia and went through those a year or two ago. Supriya Kelkar is Indian and has written some good ones geared for middle grades, but good insights into Indians who have come to U. S. And also fighting for independence.

It's official, CV or EV are a no go for me. I found a picture book I'd like to read by Charlotte Voake, but I'm not paying €50 to do so, haha! Nor am I that bothered for a challenge to get it shipped from the US for less.

I do have a book on my shelves with author who has all the letters of my first name in it, so I might stretch it to that! I might look into VC or other combinations (CCEV), but honestly, I've already done way more research than I want to do for a challenge, hahah!

Carmen wrote: "It's official, CV or EV are a no go for me. I found a picture book I'd like to read by Charlotte Voake, but I'm not paying €50 to do so, haha! Nor am I that bothered for a challenge to get it shipp..."


Oh no, we can find you something!!!!

CV:
Catherynne M. Valente - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Comfort Me with Apples, Space Opera, Six-Gun Snow White, The Refrigerator Monologues , and more ...
Clare Vanderpool - Moon Over Manifest
Carrie Vaughn - Kitty and the Midnight Hour series & Voices of Dragons series & Bannerless series
Cynthia Voigt - Homecoming
Camila Sosa Villada - Bad Girls
Carla Valentine - The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie
Colleen Venable - Kiss Number 8
Chris Vines - Azyl Academy


a bit of a reach
Christiane Vera Felscherinow - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (this book made a HUGE impression on me when I was young, but it might not be so easy to find today)

Do you count it as a "V" initial when it's like Van Allsburg with a space?
Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji)
Cecily von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl)
Caroline Van Hemert (The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds)
Colleen van Niekerk - A Conspiracy of Mothers
Crissy Van Meter - Creatures


EV:
Elizabeth Vaughan - Warprize
Eugene Vodolazkin - Laurus
Emily Victoria - This Golden Flame
Elizabeth Vargas - Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction
Elisabet Velasquez - When We Make It

Eric Van Lustbader - The Bourne Legacy
Elizabeth von Arnim - The Enchanted April

Carmen wrote: "It's official, CV or EV are a no go for me. I found a picture book I'd like to read by Charlotte Voake, but I'm not paying €50 to do so, haha! Nor am I that bothered for a challenge to get it shipp..."

Have you tried YouTube for audiobooks by her?

https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA...

Nadine in NY wrote: "Carmen wrote: "It's official, CV or EV are a no go for me. I found a picture book I'd like to read by Charlotte Voake, but I'm not paying €50 to do so, haha! Nor am I that bothered for a challenge ..."

Thank you so much!! I just looked at the Wiki page and that wasn't helpful, haha! This Golden Flame is on my TBR, and I loved Catherynne's Space Opera! Might reread that in prep for the sequel, or just find the sequel somewhere, haha!

Anyone have any suggestions for authors with either of this initials CR, CM, CRM, NR?

CR

Carrie Ryan - The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Claudia Rankine - Citizen: An American Lyric
Carlo Rovelli - Seven Brief Lessons on Physics


CM

Casey McQuiston - Red, White & Royal Blue
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Colleen McCullough - The Thorn Birds
Chanel Miller - Know My Name
Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Carmen Maria Machado - Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Charlotte McConaghy - Migrations
Carson McCullers - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Clare Mackintosh - I See You
Coco Mellors - Cleopatra and Frankenstein


NR

Nora Roberts - Year One
Natalie D. Richards - One Was Lost
Nancy Rommelmann - To the Bridge

When I was contemplating this prompt I remembered that my cousin has the same initials as me (though not the same last name) and she wrote a book a few years ago. So, I've just read The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer by Kate Kyriacou. Really well-written book, but the subject matter was pretty harrowing. I don't normally read true crime, and this goes into possibly too much detail about what happened.

While this is an anthology of poems and stories, there is an author in it with my initials so I figure it can count.

Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry, Craft and Conversations

Does anyone have any recommendations for AB?

Alicia wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for AB?"

Authors in my TBR include
Alison Bechdel
Alexandria Bellefleur
Anthony Burgess

Alison Bechdel writes very good graphic novels about real life (rather than, like ... superheroes or apocalypses). The other two authors I haven't read yet, though I may read A Clockwork Orange for ATY this year.

Alicia wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for AB?"


more ABs if you're still looking (because it turns out I really enjoy this game of searching for authors!!):
Augusten Burroughs - Running with Scissors
Ann Brashares - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Alexandra Bracken - Lore
Allie Brosh - Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Agustina Bazterrica - Tender is the Flesh
Angeline Boulley - Firekeeper's Daughter
Alan Brennert - Moloka'i
Anne Brontë - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Andrea Bartz - We Were Never Here
Alan Bradley - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Austin Channing Brown - I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
A.S. Byatt - Possession
Ashley Herring Blake - Delilah Green Doesn't Care
Alexandria Bellefleur - Written in the Stars
Amy A. Bartol - Inescapable
Anna Banks - Of Poseidon
Anne Bishop - Daughter of the Blood
Aimee Bender - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake


And if you count translators:
Anthea Bell - translated books like Inkheart & Ruby Red into English.

There’s also Allison Brennan, if you like romantic suspense such as Speak No Evil.

My initials of AH are rough. The only option that seems reasonable to me (written in Englishe and it's not academic writing or self-help) is Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. Never watched the TV program but I guess I can read the book?

Anamaria wrote: "My initials of AH are rough...."

Not at all….

Aldous Huxley — Brave New World, Chrome Yellow

Ali Hazelwood — The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, Stuck with You

Ana Huang — Twisted Love

Alix E. Harrow — The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Alexis Hall — Boyfriend Material

Alice Hoffman — Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic, Magic Lessons, The Dovekeepers, Faithful, The Bookstore Sisters, The Book of Magic, The World That We Knew, The River King . . . and MANY more!

Anamaria wrote: "My initials of AH are rough. The only option that seems reasonable to me (written in Englishe and it's not academic writing or self-help) is Roots: The Saga of an American Family by A..."

I got Alice Hoffman (eg Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic) on my shelf, and on yours I found
A.J. Hackwith (The Library of the Unwritten)
Alwyn Hamilton (Rebel of the Sands)
Amy Harmon (The Bird and the Sword)
Ali Hazelwood (Love, Theoretically)
Alexis Henderson (House of Hunger)
Adam Hochschild (King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa)
and there probably are even more - I stopped on page 22 of your Want to Read shelf (after sorting it by author names) haha x

Nẹdu wrote: "Anyone have any suggestions for authors with either of this initials CR, CM, CRM, NR?"

NR - Nathan Ripley - he writes thrillers

Any suggestions for MT? My brain said Mark Twain and then stopped, even though it feels like they must be common!!

Megan wrote: "Any suggestions for MT? My brain said Mark Twain and then stopped, even though it feels like they must be common!!"

Can’t go wrong with Mark Twain, in my opinion, but a few other suggestions for you:

Margaret Truman — Murder in the White House (book one of suspense series set in Washington DC)

Mildred (D) Taylor — Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry (middle grade book)

Miriam Toews — Women Talking

Matthew Thomas — We Are Not Ourselves; All Our Puny Sorrows

Maggie Toussaint — Gone and Done It; In For a Penny

Margaret Thatcher — The Downing Street Years; The Autobiography; The Path to Power; Statecraft: Strategies For a Changing World; Collected Speeches


(Sorry no links—the ‘search’ and ‘add book/author’ functions keep going down today.)

Anamaria wrote: "My initials of AH are rough. The only option that seems reasonable to me (written in Englishe and it's not academic writing or self-help) is Roots: The Saga of an American Family by A..."
I recently read The Songbook of Benny Lament by Amy Harmon. Excellent! I will be reading more books by Amy Harmon based on that read.

Alicia wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for AB?"
Kitchen Confidential by the late Anthony Bourdain. Excellent memoir about the restaurant industry. I read it and I think I am going to listen to the audio soon. Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown (historical fiction set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony). Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles.

AH: Maybe you could read one of the Federalist Papers or other writings by Alexander Hamilton? As the musical said, the man was non-stop!

I was having a surprisingly hard time with this, as my initials are I.R., so I just looked up celebrities with my initials and will be reading The Misadventures of Black Awkward Girl by Issa Rae.

My initials are DJ or DG.. I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for the birth year prompt.. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it. So I might just tough it out and read the next one, which happens to be like 900+ pages haha

Dominique wrote: "My initials are DJ or DG.. I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for the birth year prompt.. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it. So I might just tough it out and read the next one, which happens to be..."

How about Doris Kearns Goodwin or Diana Wynne Jones? Both have written some acclaimed books. There were others I found with DG and DJ on Bookbrowse, so you are not tied down to a 900 page book.

I made an attempt with Barbara Hambly earlier this year, so my prompt is taken care of, but I will finish a BH with the Brian Herbert co-written book Princess of Dune later this year.

I’m reading The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Braxton for AB.

I've been having a lot of difficulty finding any books by an author with the initials R. F. (aside from Robert Frost, who I don't feel like reading.

Any ideas?

Ren wrote: "I've been having a lot of difficulty finding any books by an author with the initials R. F. (aside from Robert Frost, who I don't feel like reading.

Any ideas?"



I'm honestly a little surprised at how difficult this was! I didn't expect "RF" to be challenging initials!!! And there're a lot of nonfiction writers.


Richard P. Feynman - "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
Raymond E. Feist - Magician: Apprentice Volume 1
Ronan Farrow - Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
Richard Flanagan - The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Richard Ford - The Sportswriter
Rhiannon Frater - The First Days
Rebecca Forster - Hostile Witness
Robert L. Forward - Dragon's Egg
Rachel Friedman - The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure
Rea Frey
Richard Fifield
Rae Foxx
Rebecca Fleet
Raymond Fleischmann
Richard Fariña

Thank you so much! This helps a lot.

Any recommendations for JK? or JR?

Jayasoorya wrote: "Any recommendations for JK? or JR?"



JK

Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild
Jeff Kinney - Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
Julie Kagawa - The Iron King
Jessica Knoll - Luckiest Girl Alive
John Knowles - A Separate Peace
Jay Kristoff - Nevernight & Illuminae
Jean Hanff Korelitz - The Plot
Jean Kwok - Girl in Translation
Jonathan Kellerman - When the Bough Breaks
Jan Karon - At Home in Mitford
Julie Kibler - Calling Me Home
Jack Ketchum - The Girl Next Door
Jess Kidd - Things in Jars
Jacqueline Kelly - The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Juhea Kim - Beasts of a Little Land
Jessi Klein - You'll Grow Out of It
Julia Kelly - The Last Garden in England
Jerzy Kosiński - The Painted Bird
Jackie Kabler - The Perfect Couple
and, of course:
John Keats


JR
Obviously J.K. Rowling
and also:
Jason Rekulak - Hidden Pictures
Jason Reynolds - Long Way Down
J.D. Robb
James Redfield
Jon Ronson
John Elder Robison
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean Rhys
Joanne Ramos
Jennifer Robson
James Rollins
Jeneva Rose
Jennifer Ryan
Jennifer Ryan
Jennifer Rush
Jonathan Renshaw
Jewell Parker Rhodes

I've been trying to find some nonfiction books with these initials:

RA

AM

RM