Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fourth day of the month is "Information."
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Last year in January, I wrote up my plan for the 2022 Pop Sugar Challenge. Well, it's that time again. Here are the prompts and here are some of my ideas. Many of these are prompts from past challenges, which leads me to believe the folks at Pop Sugar are running out of ideas, so I did go back and reuse some of my ideas from past lists. They claim that their theme is "nostalgia," but I don't know. It just seems a bit lazy.
Just as a reminder, I try to get two to four titles for each prompt and I make very good use of the Goodreads conversations about the prompts. I'm going to try to read mostly women and non-binary authors like I did in 2022, but I'm going to allow myself the grace to not be too rigid about this guideline.
Past challenge results:
1. A book you meant to read in 2022
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien - My husband bought me the boxed set of Lord of the Rings a couple of Christmases ago. I did read The Hobbit, but I should venture into the trilogy proper.
Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake - Another Libby hold.
2. A book you bought from an independent bookstore (I don't like to buy books, so this might be hard. I'm looking for books I can't get from my public library system or the university library system for this prompt, though.)
Planet Adyn (Theonite #1) by ML Wang
Transformation (Rai Kirah #1) by Carol Berg
3. A book about a vacation
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (The Penderwicks #1) by Jeanne Birdsall
4. A book by a first-time author
When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel
5. A book with mythical creatures
Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers #1) by Rachel Aaron
Dealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1) by Patricia C. Wrede
Monstress, Volume One: Awakening (Monstress #1) by Marjorie M. Liu
6. A book about a forbidden romance (this was tough since I didn't want mafia, age-gap, teacher/student, or kidnapper turned lover romances)
Waking Olivia (Waking Olivia #1) by Elizabeth O'Roark
Misconduct by Penelope Douglas
Fallen Too Far (Rosemary Beach #1) by Abbi Glines
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
7. A book with "Girl" in the title
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making (Fairyland #1) by Catherynne M. Valente
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
8. A celebrity memoir (ugh - I really hate this genre)
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
The World's Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
9. A book with a color in the title
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roan
The Blue Sword (Damar #1) by Robin McKinley
10. A romance with a fat lead
Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1) by Olivia Dade
If the Shoe Fits (Meant to Be #1) by Julie Murphy
The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding
11. A book about or set in Hollywood
How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding
12. A book published in spring 2023
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (expected release March 2023)
Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly (expected release March 2023)
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (expected release March 2023)
13. A book published the year you were born (1979)
A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford
The Cater Street Hangman (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt #1) by Anne Perry - You guys! This is the author who killed the mother of a friend with that friend as a teenager. She changed her name after serving five years for murder (the UK is a different place than the US, that's for sure) and became a successful author.
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing...And Then Again: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader by Zora Neale Hurston
14. A modern retelling of a classic
Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett (Romeo and Juliet retelling)
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (The Iliad with a queer angle)
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella with robots - how have I not already read this?!)
15. A book with a song lyric as its title
I Got You Babe (The DeMarco Family #1) by Jane Graves
Don't You (Forget About Me) by Kate Karyus Quinn
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
16. A book where the main character's name is in the title
Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge #1) by Elizabeth Strout - Okay, I'm leaving this here, but based on my last experience with Strout, I'm not sure I'd actually be able to read this.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Brilliant Life or Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
17. A book with a love triangle
More than Words by Jill Santopolo
From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon
The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1) by Jenny Han
18. A book that's been banned or challenged in any state in 2022
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
19. A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past challenge
Since I'm trying to read all the books that have won the Women's Prize for Fiction, I'll probably just read a book off that list since that was a prompt from 2021.
20. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins
The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches #1) by Anne Rice
Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness by Brigid Delaney
21. A book set in the decade you were born (the 1970s)
Scruples (Scruples #1) by Judith Krantz, first published 1978
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion, first published in 1970
Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich, first published in 1973
22. A book with a queer lead
The One True Me and You by Remi K. England
Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2) by Rebecca Roanhouse - The first book in this series is also on this list, so that's convenient.
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
23. A book with a map
I could do a Lord of the Rings book for this prompt, too, as well as the first prompt.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
Poison Study (Poison Study #1) by Maria V. Snyder
24. A book with a rabbit on the cover (my antipathy towards rabbits is well-documented and I'm not looking forward to this)
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
25. A book with just text on the cover
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
26. The shortest book (by pages) on your TBR list
I don't organize my TBR by page number. I will probably just read like I normally do and whatever is the shortest book I read in 2023 will be what I slot into this.
27. A #BookTok recommendation
Verity by Colleen Hoover
The Spanish Love Deception (The Spanish Love Deception #1) by Elena Armas
28. A book you bought secondhand (I do not like the focus on purchasing books this year)
Maybe I'll do a book swap with a Little Free Library in my neighborhood and include that for this prompt.
29. A book your friend recommended
The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (rec by Bestest Friend)
Black Leopard Red Wolf (Dark Star Trilogy #1) by Marlon James (rec by TJC)
O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker (rec by TJC)
30. A book that's on a celebrity book-club list (all Read with Jenna picks)
Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
31. A book about a family
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
32. A book that comes out in the second half of 2023
The Wake-Up Call by Beth O'Leary (expected release date September 2023)
Mister Magic by Kiersten White (expected release date August 2023)
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (expected release date August 2023)
33. A book about an athlete/sport
Intercepted (Playbook #2) by Alexa Martin
Wasted Words (The Austens #1) by Staci Hart
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
34. A historical-fiction book
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
35. A book about divorce
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell #1) by Hilary Mantel
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
36. A book you think your best friend would like (I went through most anticipated YA books of 2023 and picked some I think she'll read)
This Is the Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde
Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O'Clover
37. A book you should have read in high school
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
38. A book you read more than 10 years ago
The Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel #1) by Connie Willis - I remember loving this.
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed #1) by Octavia Butler
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39. A book you wish you could read for the first time again
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer #1) by Robin Hobb
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) by JK Rowling
40. A book by an author with the same initials as you (this one was hard for me - I'm not thrilled with these, but limiting myself to female authors with the initials DW was a challenge)
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. by Debra Weinstein
Advanced
41. A book written during NaNoWriMo
Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily XR Pan
The Davenports (The Davenports #1) by Krystal Marquis
42. A book based on a popular movie
Phantom by Susan Kay
Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita
Fairest of All (Villains #1) by Serena Valentino
43. A book that takes place entirely in one day
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
44. A book that was self-published
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Happenstance by Tessa Bailey
The Duke Who Didn't (Wedgeford Trials #1) by Courtney Milan
Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War #1) by T. Kingfisher
45. A book that started out as fan fiction (this was a struggle - I've already read a lot of the suggestions)
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison (Sherlock Holmes fan fic)
We'd Know By Then by Kirsten Bohling (Star Wars fan fic)
46. A book with a pet character
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
47. A book about a holiday that's not Christmas
The No-Show by Beth O'Leary (Valentine's Day)
The Do-Over by Lynn Painter (Valentine's Day)
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (birthday party)
48. A book that features two languages
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
49. The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list
Again, this is not how I have my TBR organized. I'll just read and whatever is the longest book is the longest book.
50. A book with alliteration in the title
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman
Do you have any recs for books that started out as fan fiction? Or female authors with the initials DW? Have you read any of these books?
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To see what Bestest Friend has to say about the theme of the day, go visit her at Too Legit to Quit.
I've read a few of these. Interesting that you picked Goblet of Fire as the HP book you wish you could read for the first time. I might have chosen Deathly Hallows or Prisoner of Azkaban. I've read some Anne Perry and had forgotten that story of how she and her friend killed her friend's mother- that is crazy. Anyway, you have an interesting reading year ahead of you!
ReplyDeleteI feel like there's some sort of psychological test about which HP book is your favorite. I like GoF because I like the introduction of international characters and international relations. Thinking about the wizarding world on a global scale is absolutely fascinating. I also like Order of the Phoenix because Rowling's portrayal of Harry as a traumatized child who is not receiving ANY therapy at all is so good. But each of the books has its defenders (well, except for Chamber of Secrets, right?) and I wonder what that has to say about us as people.
DeleteThe Anne Perry stuff is so insane! She just was released from confinement and became a famous author. How crazy is that?!
OMG, and here I thought I was the only person who hated CoS. That book. Every time I reread the series I want to skip it. Ergh.
DeleteOh, I think it's widely regarded as the least good HP book. It's so close to Stone and the characters don't really grow/change much, and there isn't much in the way of foreshadowing for future books. You're not alone in your dislike.
DeleteI've heard good things about Nightcrawling, which is one of those books that I meant to but haven't got around to picking up yet.
ReplyDeleteMuriel Spark!!!!!!!! I love, love, love her. I don't remember Memento Mori very well but A Far Cry From Kensington and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are excellent.
And finally...I'm with you on celebrity memoirs. I used to love them but lately I feel like I'm just too old for them.
I've never even heard of Muriel Spark before starting this list! How did I miss this? I shall start reading Spark immediately!
DeleteI rarely think memoir is interesting and most celebrities aren't as interesting as they seem to think they are, so it's a tough sell of a genre for me. Also, I don't know who most of these people are (for instance, I have some idea that I'm supposed to know who Tiffany Haddish is, but I don't really), so why would I care about their drunken exploits?!
I had read a number of the Anne Perry books before I heard that story: so surprising! I remember enjoying the Pitt series.
ReplyDeleteFor #24, could you find a book with a rabbi on the cover and pretend you misunderstood the prompt?
I checked my book list and the only book by a female DW I've read is The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir, by Dee Williams. This was in 2014 and I have no memory of it, so who knows!
Hmm...I'm adding Dee Williams to my list. I'm struggling to find authors with my initials that my library has books in its holdings. The Big Tiny is there! Yay!
DeleteYay! I'm on my work computer so I can comment on your blog!
ReplyDeleteI have a lot to say about your books. Here are the ones I have read:
Fellowship of the Ring - about 1,000 years ago. The whole trilogy is so daunting that I never pick it up to re-read. But I have loved it every time I've read it.
Song of Achilles - I listened to this via Audible or the library, can't remember which. I really liked it. I'm not generally a big historical fiction fan, but this one was really good, as was Circe.
Frankenstein - I listened to this one as well, and the production was so horrible that it was distracting. I thought I was getting Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey, but I somehow downloaded a different version. The story was really good and thought provoking, though.
Their Eyes Were Watching God - I loved this one and come back to it periodically.
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - I liked this one enough that I bought it as a gift. Really good.
Because of Winn-Dixie - It's been awhile, but boy, this was a good one!
Regarding athletes, my favorites are two books by Jane Smiley, Horse Heaven, and Perestroika in Paris, both about horse racing. Perestroika is a very charming racehorse, and the story is told mostly from her point of view. I read Horse Heaven a LONG time ago, but I feel like it was also told from the horses' point of view.
1619 Project - I have this, and have tried to read it, but I generally read right before bed and it is a heavy book (both literally and metaphorically) so I have not made much progress. I need to work on this. I'm not very strong with the non-fiction books.
Olive Kitterage - I loved the Lucy Barton books, and want to read this one soon. I can report to you whether it has the upsetting issues that the Lucy Barton books have.
Parable of the Sower - I have this, but haven't read it yet. I have read 'Kindred', which I LOVED. Do you have Hulu? They just did a series of 'Kindred'. We watched the first season, which covers about 1/3 of the book I think. My daughter and I had both read the book, my husband had not, and we all thought it was really good.
Mrs. Dalloway - I tried to read this once and couldn't get into it. I think I need to try again.
All of this is very interesting. I would LOVE for you to report back on Olive Kitterage and whether or not it will make me want to crawl under a blanket and never come out like Lucy Barton did. I'm super psyched about the Jane Smiley recs because Smiley is so reliable an author.
DeleteA couple of notes: I thought Circe was a very boring book and could not figure out why everyone loved it so much and that's why I haven't read Song of Achilles yet, even though it seems like something I should have read. I'm very nervous about reading LOTR because I read The Hobbit and it was like torture.
If I read the 1619 Project, I'm going to have to get it on Kindle. Your note about how physical heavy it is was a good reminder that a paper copy will be annoying. Maybe I'll request it right now so that I can read it sometime in the next nine months.
OMG - I read Phantom in high school when I was OBSESSED with the musical Phantom of the Opera (which is largely how I ended up working in theatre.) I loooooved that book so much. Would read it over and over and over. I still have a dogeared copy somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWorking my way through Braiding Sweetgrass. Such a wise wise book.
I've read If the Shoe Fits - I thought it was very sweet. The kids and I listened to Because of Winn-Dixie on a road trip and I wanted to book to go in a different direction, but the direction it did go in was infinitely better.
There are so many books on your list! Most of them, I've never heard of - I think that's one amazing/sad thing about books - there are so so many books out there and I will never be able to read an infinitesimal fraction of them all.
Okay, you've sold Phantom to me. I was a bit on the fence about it, but I'm going to dive in.
DeleteBraiding Sweetgrass is by a local(ish) author and it's been in every local store I've been to for the last year or so, but it always seemed like it might be a bit preachy, so I haven't really considered it too much. Your vote of confidence about it is encouraging.
It is such a shame that we'll only read the smallest fraction of books out there, but I'm going to do my best to try and make it as large as possible!
I have read some of these. I hope you like Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. That is my favorite of her 3 books.
ReplyDeleteI abandoned When We Were Sisters! It was so confused and not at all drawn to continue reading it!
I don't think I've ever read Ng, so I'm excited to dive in and see what I can add to the conversation about her.
DeleteThat is a long list. Reading all the book posts reminds me of when I actually had time to finish books 😂. I keep telling myself that at some point I will do this again! "The Penderwicks" was one of my daughter's favorite books for a while. I thought it was lovely, too. Looks like you have a fun year ahead.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL read The Penderwicks to her three kids and recommends it highly, too. I had never even heard of it before she mentioned it and now I keep seeing it everywhere. It must be meant to be!
DeleteThose are some mighty reading aspirations, but no doubt you'll be successful.
ReplyDeleteCrazy about the Author who was convicted of murder and is now writing books....kind of cringy.
Yes, the first time I read about Anne Perry being a successful author, I assumed her success was being exaggerated, but she's really successful! I don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, she was a teenager when she committed that horrible crime and I think it's fair that she was rehabilitated and has gone on to a successful career. On the other hand, she writes CRIME novels. Hm.
DeleteI love how you plan out your reading year!
ReplyDeleteHa! I wish I were as systematic as this list makes me seem!
Delete