Pop Sugar Reading Challenge

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...

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson fulfilled the “Book with a Zodiac Sign or Astrology Term in Title” of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. Okay, I cheated a little on this one. I understand the intention of the category and I tried to honor it. I started a cozy mystery about an astrologist. After about ten pages, I put the book down. Astrology …I…ugh. No offense intended, but it’s hooey. I’m a scientist by nature and not much of a spiritual person. I’m able to suspend belief for some things. Fantasy and science fiction with new ideas and questioned principles are like food for me. I devour them in droves. But a real person living in the real world who thinks Mercury will affect their choices as a rational human being? Uh, no. I just can’t. Without dumping on anyone’s belief system but I can say, it’s not for me. Reading a whole book about it is out of the question. Instead, I read an Eco-Thriller by a science fiction writer. Here, zodiac—an astrological term—is the name of the...

Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson fulfills the “B ook with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the Title” category of PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. This was the third novel I tried. The first two were poorly written and trite. This story was odd and not to my taste. Perhaps because it was published in 1964. Pop. 1280 takes place in the old west but not that old. It seems to fall in a small midwestern or western town in the early 1900s. The main character, Nick Corey, is the sheriff of a tiny town with only 1280 people. He’s a character that’s for sure. Never have I ever wanted a first-person narrative to end with the death of the main. By the last quarter of the book, I hated Nick and wanted someone to put a bullet between his eyes.  I need to do some research about the author and the genre because I missed something. A wildly popular book with such an ugly, misogynist, racist, violent character as the protagonist seems like an anomaly. There was absolutely nothing r...

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang fulfilled the “Debut Book” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. Ms. Hoang's book debut to great acclaim in 2018. It is a steamy romance with a happy ending. The book is perfect. I’ve studied romance writing for about ten years. The natural arc of a romance has been tattooed on my brain by many workshops, professional books, and colleagues. If you read Romancing the Beats by Gwen Hayes, it sounds so easy, so formulaic. But trust me, a good romance has that arc well buried under layers of great story, interesting characters, and conflict. Ms. Hoang perfected the model on her first go. The story depicts a wealthy Asian woman with autism. She wants to find a soul mate or at least a date and settle down, fulfilling the expectations of her parents. Her intellectual mind says “hire an escort and practice” to get versed in sex and relationships. Thank goodness she finds the right guy on the first try. The Kiss Quotient ...