Challenge List
1. A book becoming a movie in 2019: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (library) - This was certainly a page turner, but I dislike books told from the POV of addicts and I knew all the "twists" ahead of time. It's just not my type of novel. Also, there are some issues with the author, so all in all, not one I would necessarily recommend.
2. A book that makes you nostalgic: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (book on my bookshelf!) - I've read is so many time and it still makes me chuckle. I wish I didn't have to think about what Rowling is like in real life, though.
3. A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction): The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan (library) - Apparently Tan is a member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock group that consists of writers.
4. A book you think should be turned into a movie: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (library) - This was the book for our June book club. I thought it was a fun read and since the main characters are movie stars, I think the whole glitz and glamour and pretty gowns could really be played up on the big screen. The costuming would be amazing.
5. A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (library) - This is a terrible book that helped illuminate a lot about what is wrong with the world today. The tag on the front cover says "a fable about following your dream," but it should say "a story about how you should take advantage of everyone and everything in pursuit of your own selfishness and how to tell yourself you deserve all the good things." This book made me SO ANGRY.
6. A book with a plant in the title or on the cover: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (library)
7. A reread of a favorite book: Rock with Me by Kristen Proby (Kindle Purchase) - I love Proby's With Me in Seattle series and this is probably my favorite of the series. If you're looking for a contemporary romance series, this might do it for you.
8. A book about a hobby: I reread Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. It's still excellent. (library)
9. A book you meant to read in 2018: The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (library)
10. A book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title: Pop Princess by Rachel Cohn (library) - Sort of a boring book with very little character development. It was an easy read, but not exactly a good one.
11. A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover: Squint by Chad Morris & Shelly Brown (library)
12. A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Summer Sword by Rick Riordan (library)
13. A book published posthumously: My Year by Roald Dahl (library) - Beautiful prose about the changes of the seasons over the course of a year. There's a bit of "kids these days," but mostly is just a lovely retrospection on birds and flowers.
14. A book set in space: Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey (library) - The third book in The Expanse series. This series is mind-boggling. It's serious stuff, but the moments of levity are there. Thumbs way up.
15. A book by two female authors: In early January, I read through the entire Max Monroe catalog. Monroe is actually the duo of romance authors Laurel Ulen Curtis and N.A. Alcorn. These books are hilarious and I want more. I recommend you start with the Billionaire Bad Boy series, although I also deeply enjoyed the Mavericks Tackle Love series. Read them all. Laugh at all of them. (Kindle purchases)
16. A book with a title that contains "salty," "sweet," "bitter," or "spicy": Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen (Kindle purchase)
17. A book set in Scandinavia: The Absent One by Jussi Alder-Olsen (library)
18. A book that takes place in a single day: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (library)
19. A debut novel: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (library), From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein (library)
20. A book that's published in 2019: Vendetta in Death by JD Robb (Kindle purchase) - I keep reading them and I keep thinking they're snooze-inducing. We actually knew who the killer was from very early on, so it wasn't a mystery exactly. I don't know. Maybe I should give up on the series? (You know I'll never stop.)
21. A book featured an extinct or imaginary creature: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Navik (library)
22. A book recommended by a celebrity you admire: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (library) This was an Oprah book club pick. I don't know if I admire Oprah, but I don't not admire her.
23. A book with "love" in the title: Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (library) - Maya Aziz is just a regular American Indian girl from a Muslim family who's trying to get through her life in a small midwestern town. This book was an easy read, but it was pretty superficial, even for a YA novel. There's so many topics here - Islamaphobia, young love, the responsibilities of being the child of immigrants, religion, generational divides, friendship - but the story really ends up being about romance and while that's fine (the first word of the title is love!), it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for in a novel that had so many big ideas. Read The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon instead.
24. A book featuring an amateur detective: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (library) - I haven't read a lot of Christie and this book reminded me why. The writing is so stilted and the characters are so oddly stiff. I didn't care when Colonel Prothoroe died and I didn't really care who killed him. Miss Marple is almost a side character in the whole thing and I just wanted someone to hold on to. It's probably sacrilege or something, but I'm probably not going to read any more from Christie any time soon.
25. A book about a family: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (library)
26. A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (library) - Another coming of age story about children of immigrants. It was okay - better than Love, Hate, and Other Filters, but not nearly as good as The Sun is Also a Star.
27. A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title: Zodiac by Romina Russell (library) - I would describe this as fine. Girl is suddenly promoted to leader of her people while involved in a ill-fated love triangle in which neither guy is really worth her time. The writing was fine, but I just didn't get invested in any of the characters.
28. A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie: The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (library) - Spencer Reid referenced this book in episode 20, season 5, entitled "A Thousand Words" that deals with a serial killer whose body is covered in tattoos.
29. A retelling of a classic: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (library)
30. A book with a question in the title: What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges (library) - Sad movie, sad book. There are some creepy elements here (he's in his twenties, pursuing a girl who is fifteen) that sort of took me out of the book, but I thought it was beautiful, spare prose with great insight into a young man who feels stuck in his life.
31. A book set on a college or university campus: We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (library) - A good book. It has remarkably little plot and mostly just talks about a young woman's feelings regarding the death of her family members. It was super well written. LaCour's a bit of a genius with words.
32. A book about someone with a superpower: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (library)
33. A book told from multiple character POVs: There There by Tommy Orange (library)
34. A book that includes a wedding: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (library) - A romance novel that seemed to hit every cliche without doing anything unusual, except maybe occasionally (very occasionally) address difficulties of being in an interracial relationship.
35. A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter: Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell (library) - Two very short, very fun stories from Rowell. She's a genius at writing easy-to-read, breezy tales.
36. A ghost story: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Dr. BB's copy) - Jackson is a brilliant writer. I have no idea how she does it. I actually read this in a collection of a bunch of her works, including some short stories and she takes ordinary mundane scenes of daily domestic life and turns them into twisted, haunting tales that evoke creepiness in a sneaky way. She writes sparsely but effectively and Jackson may single-handedly turned me into a short story lover.
37. A book with a two-word title: The Power by Naomi Alderman (library) - This was our January book club pick. I thought the concept was interesting, but didn't care much for the execution. Many people in my book club loved it though. It spurred lots of complaining about local politics in our discussion.
38. A novel based on a true story: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (library)
39. A book revolving around a puzzle or game: War Cross by Marie Wu (library)
40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (book on my bookshelf - given to my by my father-in-law) - The 2018 prompt "A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym"
Advanced list!!
41. A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (library)
42. A "choose-your-own-adventure" book: My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris (library) - This was a really fun idea, but sort of a failed execution. I can't really tell if it's supposed to be a parody of romances, in which case the humor was a bit off, or if it was supposed to actually be a romance, in which case the writing was really, really terrible. I wanted to love it and I hope it jump starts a trend (do you want this bossy alpha guy or the shy beta?!), but in the end I was glad when my character finally settled down and the book ended.
43. An "own voices" book: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (library) - A book by a trans woman about a trans woman. I had a fair number of criticisms of the book (the main character wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery, she was conventionally attractive as a woman) that basically came down to the idea that I thought this book was making the life of a trans woman fairly easy (and therefore, not typical), but those concerns were washed away when I read the author's note when the author said she did all that so that it would be appealing to cis folks like me. Eh. I didn't think it was appealing because it didn't ring true, BUT I'm not the real audience here. If I were a young trans person, I don't know if I'd think it was a comforting or annoying book, but I'm glad there's at least something for those young readers to latch on to.
44. Read a book during the season it is set in: Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett (free on Kindle) - This book was not good. The main character was all "I hate my life and I'm going to just whine about it instead of taking control and I let what everyone else thinks dictate every major decision I've ever made in my life and I never learn from my mistakes" and the dude was all "she's super annoying, but somehow I'm in love with her." Ugh. They both could have fallen out of the pages into my trash can and I'd have been happy. There was an adorable golden retriever character named Sophie, though.
45. A LitRPG book: I reread Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Kindle purchase) - It really is one of my favorites. Also, none of the other books in this category were easily available to my local library.
46. A book with no chapters, unusual chapter headings, or unconventionally numbered chapters: Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg (library)
47. Two books that share the same title (1): Roomies by Christina Lauren (library) - A woman gets a crush on a man who sings at a train station, but when she is injured at the train station, he runs away. She marries him anyway so that he can perform for her favorite uncle's hit Broadway show. I found this book to be fun to read if you didn't bother to stop and think about the plot at all. I'm not a fan of love at first sight and this book suffers from the "just stop and have a conversation" and the rest of your issues will go away trope, so it wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't an unpleasant read. I doubt I'll remember it in three months.
48. Two books that share the same title (2): Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando (library) - Two girls are put together as roommates for their freshman year at college and this novel shows their communication over the summer before they meet. It was sort of a fun look at that scary transitional period of your life after you graduate high school, but before your "real life" begins.
49. A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom (e.g., Big Brother from 1984): Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (library) - This book introduced the word "grok" to the world. I read it in high school and adored it, but I could barely get through it this time around. I am not the audience for Heinlein's sermons, stilted writing, and misogyny anymore, I guess.
50: A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent:World without End by Ken Follett (library)
Wrap-up!
Books I loved: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Rock with Me, Fangirl, The Sun is Also a Star, His Majesty's Dragon, Homegoing, Ready Player One, World without End
Books I liked: The Kitchen God's Wife, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Abaddon's Gate, Bittersweet, The Absent One, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, An American Marriage, When Dimple Met Rishi, The Illustrated Man, There There, The Haunting of Hill House, Burial Rites, The Silkworm, Roomies by Lauren, Roomies by Zarr and Altebrando
Books I thought were fine: The Fifth Risk, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Summer Sword, My Year, From the Corner of the Oval, Love, Hate, and Other Filters, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, We Are Okay, Steelheart, The Power, Red Mars
Books I thought were terrible: The Woman in the Window, The Alchemist, Vendetta in Death, The Murder at the Vicarage, Dorothy Must Die, War Cross, My Lady's Choosing, If I Was Your Girl, Christmas Lights, Feast Your Eyes, Stranger in a Strange Land
Books I forgot ten minutes after I finished them: Pop Princess, Squint, Zodiac, The Wedding Date, Almost Midnight
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