Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Hello readers! We have finished week 14. How are you keeping on pace? Have you read 14 books yet? What books have you finished this week? Which ones have you started?

This week I continue to work on my book of short stories That Glimpse of Truth. It's 800+ pages but I'm almost through it. My original plan was to read one story per night and just keep at it throughout the year but I am really enjoying reading the short stories contained in the book. I've been looking up analysis for each of the stories I really enjoy and reading about the authors. It's almost like a project in itself.

I know I had asked about doing a page reading challenge and I'm going to start it on Monday. So starting Monday make sure if you're wanting to participate that you start keeping track of your pages read (starting Monday) and look for the post I will have up then as well to get all the details.

This week's question: If you could only have one book to read for the rest of your life which would you pick and why?

I read A Discovery of Witches last week for my "a book with magic" challenge. I've read 20 books.

I am now reading Station Eleven for "a book set in the future." I am hoping to knock a few books off my list this weekend before going to the second book in the ADoW trilogy but not sure that will happen.

I believe the Goodreads challenge feature on both the website and the app tracks pages read along with books read for the year. You just have to set the challenge for yourself.

I read Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. I started reading Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle but got sick and haven't been able to read, I've read 12 books.

I took the week off from the challenge and re-read Divergent. I went to the Epic Reads book tour last night and left with a pile of new books, including Red Queen, which I began today for my book published this year. I love new books!

The question this week is crazy difficult to answer, but considering the Harry Potter series is my go-to favourite, I'll go with The Deathly Hallows as one I could read forever. There's so much to be analyzed and treasured, and it sums up the whole journey very well.

I finished Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. This is for my TV show prompt. This is my 18th book read. My all time favorite book would probably be Eat Pray Love.

I read:
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? for my memoir and
Jalna for a book set in my hometown.

The question this week is too difficult! I rarely re-read books, but I think if I were to choose it would be either One Hundred Years of Solitude or The People of Paper. Both are in my favourite books category and I could read them forever

Neither book I read this week is something I would usually read and I ended up really enjoying both of them.

I had intended to read The Night Circus as the book at the bottom of my to read list because it was the last book on my knidle before archived items. Now there is another book in that position which I will read for that prompt because I am less apt to have books with magic on that list. Yay.

I read The Martian for my book set in the future. It has come highly recommended but it's not really my genre. So I was really happy to have an excuse to read it rather than procuring it and then not reading it which is what I probably would have done without this challenge. Loved it. Seriously. Couldn't put it down. There are some things I think could have been tighter and some things that could have been brought back around. Not a perfect book, but it really captured my imagination.

I started two other books this week which have been slow going. We'll see if I've finished either by week 15.

As for only one book forever? OUCH! I'm tempted to say, coyly, the dictionary. But probably A Christmas Carol. It's short for your only book ever but I love the narrator in that story more than words.

Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for.

I mean, seriously! I love the narrator. And I feel like most adaptations really miss out on the narrator's inherent humor so A Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite adaptation. True fact.

Not much to report this week, my reading has really been slowing down - I feel a reading slump coming! But I did manage to finish White Teeth for my book with more than 500 pages, which I really enjoyed.

Now I've started The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (for Pulitzer Prize winner prompt), but I'm not really into it at the moment. I think it has more to do with my reading slump than with the book itself.

I don't really re-read books, so this week's question is particularly hard for me! If I had to choose, I guess I would go with City by Alessandro Baricco. Not only it's my favourite book, but it has different stories/writing styles within the main story, so I feel like it's a good one to have if you can't read anything else!

This week I finished:
12. A book of short stories, Death Dines at 8:30
29. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: Double Take
which bring my total to 17 prompts completed.

I'm working on three other prompts. I feel I'm doing pretty well for this challenge.

That's a tough question. I can't pick just one. I would definitely need to have more than one book, if only to fit my moods. I really think I'd cheat and say my collection of Anne of Green Gables all in one series, or my Kindle, loaded as it is today.

This week I read Be More Chill for a book by an author I love that I haven't read yet and I also finished The Color Purple for a book with a color in the title.

I started 1984 for a book with a number in the title and to be honest, I'm pretty unimpressed so far. The world-building is excellent and all so all the hype about that is absolutely deserved but the characters and the plot just need to DO something

I'm still struggling through That Hideous Strength and I'm not enjoying it. It's the last book for my trilogy so at this point I'm just going to stick it out. I took a break and read Evil Under the Sun for my book that was turned into a movie. It's among my favorite murder mysteries.

^In reference to 1984, I one hundred percent agree. Conceptually, it's an interesting world, but the plot and characters are seriously lacking. I've never understood the adoration.

It's hard to choose just one book to reread forever, but I'd probably go with The Lord of the Rings.

I am absolutely loving all the answers to this week's question. Sorry, I know it is a difficult one. I forgot to answer in my original post. I would probably take either Wicked or The Notebook. I've re-read both and loved them each time.

I've read 32 of 52. I finished Murder on the Orient Express (a book that became a movie) last night. Being able to listen to books helped me get quite a few categories done quickly. I'm a little more than a third done with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (a book written by someone under 30). I'm not sure what I'm going to start next for this challenge. I'm currently reading two books for other challenges, and I'm reading other books just because they looked interesting. I'm going to the library today and will pick up two more books that I'm going to read just because I want to, and I will probably start one or both in the next day or two.

If I could have only one book to read for the rest of my life, I would choose the Bible. I'm not sure what version I'd choose. After the Bible, my next choice would be The Complete Novels by Jane Austen. JA is my favorite author. If I had to choose just one of her novels, I would choose The Annotated Pride and Prejudice: A Revised and Expanded Edition. P&P is my favorite novel, and that edition has lots of notes that are interesting. But I'd hate to be without The Annotated Emma, because I love that book, too, and Mr. Knightley is my favorite Austen hero.

AlegnaB wrote: "I've read 32 of 52. I finished Murder on the Orient Express last night. Being able to listen to books helped me get quite a few categories done quickly. I'm a little more than a thi..."

Way to go! 32 books already is quite a feat!

I have read: 31/52
✔️1) A book with more than 500 pages: A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) by George R.R. Martin
✔️2) A classic romance: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
✔️4) A book published this year: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
✔️5) A book with a number in the title: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
✔️7) A book with non human characters: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
✔️8) A funny book: The Rosie Effect (Don Tillman #2) by Graeme Simsion
✔️9) A book by a female author: We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
✔️10) A mystery or thriller: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
✔️11) A book with a one word title: Us by David Nicholls
✔️12) A book of short stories: Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar, Anita Roy, Samhita Arni, Alyssa Brugman, Isobelle Carmody, Kate Constable, Nicki Greenberg, Priya Kuriyan, Margo Lanagan, Justine Larbalestier, Kuzhali Manicakavel, Lily Mae Martin, Mandy Ord, Manjula Padmanabhan, Amruta Patil, Penni Russon, Vandana Singh, Annie Zaidi
✔️13) A book set in a different country: The Conductor by Sarah Quigley
✔️17) A book a friend recommended: Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
✔️19) A book based on a true story: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
✔️22) A book that scares you: Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, #1)by D.M. Cornish
✔️23) A book more than 100 years old: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
✔️27) A book you can finish in a day: The Silver Moon: Reflections on Life, Death and Writing by Bryce Courtenay
✔️28) A book with antonyms in the title: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
✔️29) A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Baguette Murder (Patisserie Mystery, #3) by Harper Lin
✔️33) A book from your childhood: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
✔️34) A book with a love triangle: Animate Me by Ruth Clampett
✔️36) A book set in high school: Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett
✔️38) A book that made you cry: Wonder by R.J. Palacio
✔️39) A book with magic: Undine Trilogy by Penni Russon
✔️41) A book by an author you've never read before: The Children Act by Ian McEwan
✔️42) A book you own but haven't read yet: Éclair Murder (Patisserie Mystery #2) by Harper Lin
✔️45) A book set during Christmas: Killer Christmas (An Emma Wild Holiday Mystery #1) by Harper Lin
✔️47) A play: 'night, Mother by Marsha Norman
✔️48) A banned book: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
✔️49) A book based on or turned into a TV show: Outlander (Outlander, #1) by Diana Gabaldon

I have started:
32) A trilogy: Maddaddam Trilogy ✔️Oryx and Crake ✔️The Year of the Flood MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
40) A graphic novel: The Compleat Moonshadow by J.M. DeMatteis, Jon J. Muth
44) A book that was originally written in a different language: Therese Raquin by Émile Zola
50) A book you started but never finished: The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt


And the one book, if there could only be one, would be "Swords Crowns and Rings" by Ruth Park It is a novel that makes you laugh, cry and love.

It took me almost 3 weeks to read The Goldfinch but I am finally DONE. I did not love it. It is fulfilling my Pulitzer prize winner. It baffles me how some books are considered award-worthy.
Ifinished The Silent Sister yesterday so it fulfills my "can read in a day" book.
Now I'm reading When She Woke for my "takes place in the future prompt."

If I could only read one book for the rest of my life... I'd probably pick HP but i really did love The Thornbirds and I might choose that one. Such a tricky question for book-lovers!

I've only read one book for the challenge recently and I finished it over a week ago so it doesn't really count. This past week I read Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, it was really funny, it made me laugh out loud several times.

If I had to chose just one book it would probably be Les Trois Mousquetaires. I've read it at least 8 times since I was 9, and it was the very first book I bought when I arrived in Paris for Translation School.

Elizabeth wrote: "Hello! I've just discovered this page so I'm a bit late to the game. Someone sent me the challenge awhile ago and I have been going through it by myself... I should have thought to look for a group..."

Better late than never! We are happy to have you!

Hilary wrote: "It took me almost 3 weeks to read The Goldfinch but I am finally DONE. I did not love it. It is fulfilling my Pulitzer prize winner. It baffles me how some books are considered a..."

I'll be interested to see what you think of "When She Woke".

Tatiana wrote: "I've only read one book for the challenge recently and I finished it over a week ago so it doesn't really count. This past week I read [book:Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Cop..."

I absolutely love "Hyperbole and a Half...". It's the funniest book I've ever read.

I didn't get to finish a book this week, but I started Mysteries and I'm only 1/5 done and it's a trip... I have no idea what's going on, haha. It's for my "Translated to English Books" prompt.