Pop Sugar Reading Challenge

The puzzle book was another category I doubled up on. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello ’s Library by Chris Grabenstein fulfilled the category “Book revolving around a puzzle or game” in the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. I read the book for the challenge not realizing I had already fulfilled the category with The Lying Game . I went with Ruth Ware’s book instead of this one because it was a kid’s book. I have a great affinity for children ’s stories. Some of the greatest stories ever written were intended for children. But I didn’t want to bog the blog down with too many choices in the children’s lit category. The blog is for adults and how many adults still read kid’s books? I know you’re out there but not the majority. The story was perfect, an escape room in a novel. My family has become obsessed with escape rooms. I ’ve always loved a good puzzle. Many of the computer games I enjoy are puzzle-oriented. And this book hit all my favorite things. The tale begins with thre...

I accidentally read more than one story for the “Book Written by Musician” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. In fact, I read three. Which is funny because I struggled to find one that was not ginormous and still interesting. I tried Wildwood, but it was huge and the audio did not suit me. Keith Richard’s book just scared me by the size and what I expected in the contents. (I love sex, rock-and-roll, and antics, but something said the tome might go very far into those subjects. No thanks.) I joined a Horror Reading group at my local library because I knew the librarian running it loved the horror genre. I ’ve been reading Stephen King since I was eleven years old and have not finished his works yet. I love a good scary book. (I like it better when there’s a love story buried in it.) Anyway, our second book was Inspection by Josh Malerman. At our first meeting where we read We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, the librarian and I discussed my reading blog a...

Redwall by Brian Jacques fulfilled the "Book Set in an Abbey, Cloister, Monastery, Vicarage, or Convent ” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. It is the last item on the list and my last book for the blog. I had a tough time finding a novel for this one. I purchased and downloaded from Audible The Mists of Avalon , thinking, “Hey, I’ve never read this. It could work.” Fifty-four hours of listening. Fifty-four. I got the deluxe entire series version. I wasn’t ready to make that kind of commitment. Then I researched. I found Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie—read it. I found The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny—already did that author for this list, and a thousand Downton Abbey books—not a real abbey with nuns and stuff. Sigh… Then I discovered a cozy mystery series by Ellis Peters about twelfth-century monks. Yes! Perfect. I grabbed A Morbid Taste for Bones and dug in. By chapter three, the monks had left the abbey on a quest to Wales to steal...

Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emily Campbell Webster fulfilled the “ Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book ” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. As a child of the 80s, I read Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories voraciously. In fact, I can remember with the first five writing all the page numbers and rereading until I hit every page. I’m not obsessive. Why do you ask? When I saw the category, I was thrilled. Tons of the new versions have come out in the last thirty years. (Man, I ’m old.) I recently found The Oregon Trail Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. There are two old obsessions rolled into one, right there. I joked that every ending but one had to be “Your party dies of dysentery.” But for this super serious blog, I wanted a grown-up novel. But not too adult that it wasn ’t super fun. Because I’m six. I was thrilled to see the huge list of books in this genre for adults. In fact, I found one very adult story the other day. Choose-Your...