A few years ago I had another blog that I ran for about three years. During that time I tried to conquer the Popsugar Reading Challenge and FAILED!
The Popsugar is 40 different prompts (and 10 advance ones) and the challenge is to read one book for each prompt in one year. In past years I tried to figure out the books before the year began but I think that was part of my failure. There was no room for life and that things change all the time.
Along with inflexible, I also didn’t want to plan everything in advance because I don’t know all the books I’ll read next year. I really want to read the nominations for ‘Best Novel’ for both the Bram Stoker Awards and the Hugo Awards in 2020.
Those nominations don’t come out til Spring 2020, so that’s about eleven books with a big fat question mark beside them.
With that in mind, I decided to pick out books for prompts that were narrower in focus and leave the broad ones for later down the road. So out of the general 40 I have 25 picked, and 6 out of the 10 advance ones.
Are you participating in the 2019 Popsugar? How is it going so far? How are you approaching the 2020 Popsugar challenge?
To find a downloadable version of the list and more info go here.
Blue = Picked
Green = To be decided
General
1 A Book that is Published in 2020
Axiom’s End – Lindsay Ellis
2 A Book by a Trans or Nonbinary Author
An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon
3 A Book with a Great First Line
4 A Book about a Book Club
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
5 A Book set in a City that has hosted the Olympics
6 A Bildungsroman
Dune – Frank Herbert
7 The first Book you touch on a Shelf with your Eyes closed
8 A Book with an Upside Down Image on the Cover
This is How you Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar
9 A Book with a Map
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
10 Book Recommended by your Favorite Blog, Vlog, Podcast or Online Book Club
Under the Banner of Heaven – Jon Krakauer
11 An Anthology
Invisible Planets – Ken Liu (Editor)
12 A Book that Passes the Bechel Test
13 A Book with the same Title as a Movie or a TV series but is not connected
14 A Book by an Author with Flora or Fauna in their Name
The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
15 A Book published the month of your Birthday
Exhalation – Ted Chiang
16 A Book about or by a Woman in STEM
The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowal
17 A Book that won an Award in 2019
18 A Book on a Subject you know Nothing About
Dead Wake – Erik Larson
19 A Book with Only Words on the Cover, no Images or Graphics
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders – Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry
20 A Book with a Pun in the Title
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power – Ryan North
21 A Book Featuring One of the Seven Deadly Sins
22 A Book with a Robot, Cyborg, or AI Character
23 A Book with a Bird on the Cover
The Strange Bird – Jeff Vandermeer
24 A Fiction or Nonfiction Book about a World Leader
The Once and Future King – T.H. White
25 A Book with ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’, or ‘Bronze’ in the Title
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer – Michelle McNamara
26 A Book by a WOC
27 A Book with at Least a 4-Star Rating on Goodreads
28 A Book you Meant to Read in 2019
29 A Book about or involving Social Media
Twittering from the Circus of the Dead – Joe Hill
30 A Book that has a Book on the Cover
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Safon
31 A Medical Thriller
Lock In – John Scalzi
32 A Book with a Made-Up Language
33 A Book set in a Country beginning with “C”
34 A Book you picked because the Title caught your attention
35 A Book with a Three Word Title
36 A Book with a Pink Title
Severance – Ling Ma
37 A Western
Unbury Carol – Josh Malerman
38 A Book by or about a Journalist
Going Clear – Lawrence Wright
39 Read a Banned Book during Banned Books Week
The Witches – Roald Dahl
40 Your Favorite Prompt from a Past Popsugar Challenge
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (2019 – Reread of a Favorite Book)
ADVANCE
1 A Book written by Author in their 20s
2 A Book with ‘20’ or ‘Twenty’ in the Title
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
3 A Book with a Character with a Vision Impairment or Enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision)
Daredevil Graphic Novel
4 A Book set in Japan, the host of the 2020 Olympics
Kafka on the Shore – Murakami
5 A Book by an Author who has written more than 20 Books
Carrie – Stephen King
6 A Book set in the 1920s
The Mysterious Affair at Styles – Agatha Christie
7 A Book with more than 20 Letters in its Title
8 A Book Published in the 20th Century
9 A Book from a Series with more than 20 Books
Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie
10 A Book with a Main Character in their 20’s
