#popsugar reading challenge 2020

[franticvampirereads]

This was such a fun read! I loved getting to dive back into Elisa and Connor’s adventures. This one especially so. I really liked that we got to see a completely different part of this little universe. The North Woods and the crumbling resort were so cool! I loved the spooky and slightly sinister feelings they gave the atmosphere.

Another thing that I really liked was that we got to see Connor in his element as a true contender for the shifter throne. Oh, and that Elisa was starting to come to terms with the monster! I really liked the character growth we got from both of them. But now I’m curious to see more of Alexei. He was so interesting and I really hope he’s around more in the next books. Also, more Lulu please!

Anyway, this was a really fun read. I’m giving this one a solid four stars. I’m so excited to see where the next book takes us!

Reading Challenge Prompts:

PopSugar 2023: a book you meant to read in 2022

Shop Your Shelves 2023: published before 2020

[pepperf]

Reading Challenge 2020

I’m currently 42/50 books through the Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge, and still enjoying it immensely. I love book challenges, they make me seek out things I might not otherwise have read - and it just got me reading again, which was good given my lack of fandom involvement this year. 

I particularly like the Popsugar lists - they’re a good combination of specific and and challenging (two books that share the same title... a book with a question in the title... a book that takes place in a single day...), and yet general enough that I don’t feel cornered into reading stuff that doesn’t interest me (aside from the “litRPG” prompt, but I just re-read Only You Can Save Mankind and called it good). Plus there’s a very good-natured GoodReads group for finding inspiration and bragging posting about your progress.

Anyhow, they’ve just released the prompts for the 2020 challenge, for anyone who might be interested in playing next year. I didn’t know about the 2019 one until the very end of 2018, so this time around I was keeping an ear to the ground, so I could get some planning in. 

So, if anyone else is interested, the prompt list is here: Popsugar Reading Challenge 2020. And lmk if you’re doing it! I’m curious/nosy about what other people pick for the prompts. :) If anyone wants to find me on GoodReads, I’m Pepper, ofc.

I’m going to do a summary of my 2019 challenge books sometime at the end of December - whenever I finish, basically - with some recs and opinions, so, idk, get pumped for that, or whatever. ;)

[jellyfishjams]

January Update: finished four prompts in my reading challenge!

A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics

A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads

A book you meant to read in 2019

A Western

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2020

#136 - Autobiography of a Corpse, by Sigizmund Krzhizanovsky

Around the Year in 52 Books: A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce

The Ultimate PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book you picked because the title caught your attention

The Reading Frenzy: Read a book set in Russia (or by a Russian author)

Mount TBR: 119/150

Rating: 2/5 stars

I rarely read the introductions in any book that has one. I'd rather get to the actual content, and often I don't have the academic grounding to understand half of what the introduction's authors have to say.

This time, I went back and read it after. Counter-intuitive, I'm sure many people would say, but I was vindicated by Thirlwell mentioning Italo Calvino as a similar author, because I read The Complete Cosmicomics earlier this year and found Corpse to be strikingly reminiscent of it. The subject matter of any individual story between the two could be wildly different, but they all felt the same in their treatment of the "fantastic" as a blend of real, absurd, and academic.

Like my reaction to Cosmicomics, I'm left here with the feeling of "I wish I understood this better so I can appreciate it more." I'm no student of philosophy, and while I have enough knowledge of Russian history to connect it to the dismal, censorious atmosphere of the stories in Corpse, beyond that I have no ground to stand on. I love absurdity in fiction; but this is high-minded, philosophical absurdity outside my ken. I always felt like I was grasping at the edges of what Krzhizanovsky was trying to say--I could see connections forming between identity, time, brokenness, and storytelling. I feel confident in stating his stories are mostly about some or all of those things, most of the time. But as with Calvino, deeper meaning eludes me; I value emotion most in my fiction, not philosophy. I would rather grapple with characters than concepts.

This is a challenging work that I'm glad I attempted, but not something I'd shout from the rooftops as a general recommendation. It's weird and interesting, and I'm vaguely sad that this author was never recognized for his fiction in his lifetime because of censorship. Even if I can't appreciate his work fully, clearly he deserved better than what he got.

[bixbiboom]

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi || Book Review

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge | A book by a trans or nonbinary author

Synopsis | Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look? There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster – and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also uncover the truth, and the answer to the question – How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

REVIEW 

But an echo of a memory is not the same as a memory, and a memory is not the same as a now, and anyway, he’d said it loud enough that the painting heard it. Also, the problem is, when you think you’ve been without monsters for so long, sometimes you forget what they look like, what they sound like, no matter how much remembering your education urges you to do. It’s not the same when the monsters are gone. You’re only remembering shadows of them, stories that seem to be limited to the pages or screens you read them from. Flat and dull things. So yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous.

Forgetting is how the monsters come back.

This story initially caught my interest because it seemed to be a different take on the kid and a monster tale. I’d read plenty of stories involving team ups with kids and creatures, but couldn’t remember the last time I found one with a female main character, let alone a Black girl. The more I looked into the basics of the story, the more I knew it was something I had to read. Little did I know that I would take away so much from a book that seemed so small.

What does a monster look like?

Her mother focused on her, cupping her cheek in a chalky hand. “Monsters don’t look like anything, doux-doux. That’s the whole point. That’s the problem.

The first thing that drew me in to this story once I got started was the world-building. Although this is a fantasy tale, Lucille still felt like a real place - especially in the detailing of the changes that went into place for this establishment to exist the way it does in this current time. It was a little heartbreaking to recount some of the incidents that sparked the changes since a lot of it still goes on now, like the school shootings, deaths at the hands of police officers, and bombings of mosques and temples, but that someone was putting things in place to prevent repeat offenses and more importantly, remember those who were lost, was a nice touch.

You want many things, you are full of want, carved out of it, made from it, yes. But the truth does not care about what you want, the truth is what it is. It is not moved by want, it is not a blade of grass to be bent by the wind of your hopes and desires.

Representation was also great across the board. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything in the past where so many minorities were at the forefront of a story like this, especially in the fantasy genre. I really appreciated that so much care went into Jam’s character. With the alarming number of deaths of transgender and gender noncomforming people in the last year alone, mostly Black transgender women, I loved that Jam was the star of this story - not just as a selectively mute Black transgender teen who mainly communicates in sign language, but one with a great support system around her in her parents, best friend Redemption, and ultimately Pet, the creature she called out with her blood. With so much controversy surrounding transgender children these days, it was great to see this child live in an environment willing to accept her and help her live as her true self, no questions asked.

The truth does not change whether it is seen or unseen.

Ultimately, this was a story about looking beyond the surface and finding things others mean to keep hidden away. It was interesting to have examples of just how far removed this society seemed to be from this time given there was a protected section in their library with information that is readily available today on situations that are also common knowledge. The climax and ending of this broke my heart, but it definitely drove home the point that not everything lies on the surface - some things are hidden in plain sight and you have to look deeper to find what’s underneath, even if it’s something you’d rather forget.

This was such a great read with an equally important message and I hope it finds its way into everyone’s hands.

Rating | 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Goodreads

[ablondebibliophile]

Book 68 of 2020: On Turpentine Lane - Elinor Lipman 

A book with an upside-down image on the cover for Popsugar's 2020 Reading Challenge 

Check out my Goodreads review

[anymay]

2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge

I haven't posted in a really long time. However, this year I'm making really good progress on my reading challenges. Only 11 books to go!

A book that's published in 2020 - Beach Read by Emily Henry

A book by a trans or nonbinary author - I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver

A book with a great first line - Circe by Madeline Miller ("When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.")

A book about a book club - The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics - Dear Martin by Nic Stone (set in Atlanta, GA)

A bildungsroman (coming of age) - Heartstopper, Vol. 1 - Alice Oseman

The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed

A book with an upside-down image on the cover - Skyward, Vol. 1 - Joe Henderson

A book with a map - The Wicked King by Holly Black

A book recommended by your favorite book blog or vlog - One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

An anthology - Team Avatar Tales by Faith Erin Hicks, et al.

A book that passes the Bechdel test - Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

A book that has the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it - The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

A book about or involving social media

A book that has a book on the cover

A medical thriller - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

A book with a made-up language - Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

A book set in a country beginning with "C"

A book you picked because the title caught your attention - The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

A book published the month of your birthday - ATLA: Imbalance Part Two by Faith Erin Hicks (published in May)

A book about or by a woman in STEM - The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

A book that won an award in 2019 - Mister Miracle by Tom King (Eisner award winner)

A book on a subject you know nothing about - Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (biotechnology and blood testing)

A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics

A book with a pun in the title - A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (pride)

A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character - Alex + Ada, Vol. 1 by Jonathan Luna

A book with a bird on the cover - Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader - Superman Red Son by Mark Millar

A book with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" in the title

A book by a WOC - The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole

A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads - ATLA: Imbalance Part One by Faith Erin Hicks

A book you meant to read in 2019

A book with a three-word title - The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

A book with a pink cover - Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

A Western - Loveless by Brian Azzarello

A book by or about a journalist - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Read a banned book during Banned Books Week (September 27-October 3, 2020)

Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge - Kind of Coping by Maureen "Marzi" Wilson (A book about mental health, 2018 edition)

Advanced

A book written by an author in their 20s

A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title

A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement - Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare (the duke is blind)

A book set in the 1920s - Moonshine, Vol. 1 by Brian Azzarello

A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics - Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1 by Sui Ishida

A book by an author who has written more than 20 books - The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

A book with more than 20 letters in the title - Super Chill: A year of living anxiously by Adam Ellis

A book published in the 20th century - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A book from a series with more than 20 books

A book with a main character in their 20s - The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

[placestohibernate]

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020.

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020.

It’s been an insane year of reading (I read a total of 120 books) and it has been a delight to have the POPSUGAR reading challenge help diversify my selections. I truly enjoy doing the challenge every year and I thought I would share my results for this year: I was able to complete 43/50 of the challenges! My annotated copies of the challenge! (You’ll notice some of them don’t match the books on…

[starryshelf]

THE CITY WE BECAME - N.K. JEMISIN (a book with a map)

I finished this book yesterday, and honestly, I’m still recovering. I’m always weak for urban fantasy, and I loved The Fifth Season, although I haven’t read the rest of the trilogy yet. But this was truly spectacular.

The premise is fairly simple if you read a lot of urban fantasy: cities are alive, and when they’re born, one person becomes the avatar of the city - its soul, if you like. But New York doesn’t just have one avatar - it has six, one for each borough and one for the city as a whole. This is a shock to most of the people who’ve been chosen - Manhattan, who literally only arrived in the city earlier that day; Brooklyn, a councilwoman who used to be a rapper; Bronx, the director of a community art space; Queens, an Indian student with a passion for mathematics; and Staten Island, the isolated daughter of an NYPD officer who is too terrified to ever visit the city. Luckily, they have the avatar of the last city to be born, Sao Paolo, there to help. Which is good, because New York is under attack by an enemy, a mysterious, omnipresent Woman in White, who attacks using gentrification and alt-right assholes.

This is a book with a lot of heart, as well as a totally electrifying plot. I had to force myself to put the book down occasionally because I really wanted to savour it rather than just race through. As a Brit, I don’t know New York other than through movies, so I really needed the map in the front, but it was a lot of fun figuring out what was going on and matching places up with what I knew. There’s a huge variety of cultures and backgrounds represented, which was fantastic - based on the acknowledgements in the back of the book, Jemisin has taken a lot of care and used several sensitivity readers to make sure she got things right. I also loved the whole premise of cities that are alive - I think I first encountered this as a kid reading Diana Wynne Jones’ The Merlin Conspiracy, which features a few cities-as-people, and I’ve been a sucker for it ever since. I loved meeting some of the other cities and hearing about the ones I didn’t meet. I suppose my only quibble is that I don’t understand how there can be so few living cities? Based on the list in the front of the book, there are six, plus New York - London, Paris, Sao Paolo, Hong Kong, Cairo and Lagos. Considering the conditions for ‘being born’ are that a city must a) have existed for a few hundred years and b) have a unique culture, I feel like there should be a lot more - plenty get mentioned as potentials, but I thought surely if New York is alive, somewhere like Beijing or Tokyo or Mumbai ought to be as well? Entirely possible I misunderstood this though!

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I was very pleased that Jemisin gave it a satisfying ending rather than leaving it on a cliffhanger, but left enough questions to make me keen to read the next one when it comes out. Unfortunately, since this was only released a few months ago, I’ve probably got a while to wait! But I will do so, gladly, if the rest of the trilogy turns out to be as good as this first one - and Jemisin has form on that, being the only author to win a Hugo for every book in a trilogy, so I’m very, very excited.

[vices-aand-virtues]

2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge

The new year is upon us! Which means it was time for me to decide how I wanted to go about my reading challenge for the year. In 2019, I pretty much read whatever I wanted, with the intent of reading more authors of color, romance, and books by women. While I didn’t quite reach my specific goal, my numbers were much higher than in previous years. So this year I decided to up the ante and not only raise those numbers again, but participate in the Popsugar Reading Challenge once more. 

When I did this challenge in 2018, it exposed me to books and authors I hadn’t thought to read or intended to read but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. It also helped me realize that if a book isn’t enjoyable for me, I don’t have to read it. 

So here’s my list for the coming year. Fingers crossed it gets finished! Happy 2020 and happy reading!

-------

1. A book published in 2020 - The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa (changed from original list)

2. A book by an trans or nonbinary author - The Map of Salt and Stars  by Zeyn Joukhadar

3. A book with a great first line - My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

4. A book about a book club - The Naughty Girls Book Club by Sophie Hart

5. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics - Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams (changed from original list)

6. A bildungsroman - With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (changed from original list)

7. The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed - Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

8. A book with an upside down image on the cover - This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar (changed from original list)

9. A book with a map - Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha, #2) by Tomi Adeyemi (changed from original list)

10. A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast or online book club - Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire, recommended by The Worst Bestsellers podcast Best of 2016

11. An anthology - Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay

12. A book that passes the Bechdel test - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

13. A book with the same title as a movie or TV series but is unrelated to it -- The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date, #1) by Jasmine Guillory

14. An author with flora or fauna in their name -- The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black

15. Book published the month you were born - The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon, published June 2020 (changed from original list)

16. A book about or by women in STEM - The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

17. A book that won an award in 2019 - Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong, winner of a 2019 Goodreads choice award

18. A book on a subject you know nothing about - The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq by Dunya Mikhail

19. A book with only words on the cover - A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

20. A book with a pun in the title - High Achiever: The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life by Tiffany Jenkins

21. A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins - A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum (changed from original list)

22. A book with a robot, cyborg or AI character - Starsight (Skyward #2)  by Brandon Sanderson

23. A book with a bird on the cover - Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of My Iraqi Family by Tamara Chalabi

24. A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader - The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory, a fictional account of Mary Queen of Scots

25. A book gold, silver or bronze in the title - The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (changed from original list)

26. A book by a woman of color - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

27. A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads - Corazon by Yesika Salgado

28. A book you meant to read in 2019 - The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

29. A book involving social media - The Right Swype (Modern Love #1) by Alisha Rai (changed from original list)

30. A book that has a book on the cover - One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

31. A medical thriller -  The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (changed from original list)

32. A book with a made up language - Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

33. A book set in a country beginning with C - Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (changed from original list)

34. A book picked because the title caught your attention - Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

35. A book with a three-word title - My Old Faithful by Yang Huang

36. A book with a pink cover - Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

37. A western - The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire #1) by Craig Johnson

38. A book by or about a journalist - The Seven Husbands of Evenlyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (changed from original list)

39. Read a banned book during Banned Books Week - Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (changed from original list)

40. Your favorite prompt from a past PopSugar Reading Challenge - bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward, from the 2016 Challenge: A Book That's Under 150 Pages (changed from original list)

Advanced:

1. A book written by an author in their 20s - The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic #3) by Amanda Lovelace (28)

2. A book with 20 or twenty in the title - Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

3. A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement - The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia (changed from original list)

4. A book set in Japan - Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

5. A book by an author who has written more than 20 books - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

6. A book set in the 1920s - Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (changed from original list)

7. A book with more than 20 letters in the title - The Dark Descent Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

8. A book published in the 20th century - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (changed from original list) 

9. A book from a series with more than 20 books - Naked in Death (In Death #1) by J.D. Robb (changed from original list) 

10. A book with a main character in their 20s - The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (changed from original list)

----

Any of these are subject to change! I’ll also be reading other books not included on this list, so hopefully I can reach over 50 books this year. 

Happy reading!

[bibliophiletay]

My 2020 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

My 2020 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

I did it! I have finally completed the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge! I’ve been doing this challenge for the last three years and I’ve never completed it, but this year I finally have! I didn’t get through the advanced list, but I got through the the bass forty prompts. Here’s my list: Jane Anonymous 1. Published in 2020 Felix Ever After 2. A Book by a trans/non-binary author Slaughterhouse Five 3.…

[fanfic-reading-challenge]

Rules & FAQ

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the 2023 Fanfic Reading Challenge! This has always been a little bit of a dream to me, Juulna, to do, but I lacked the fandom insight then that I have now. Or, well, in late 2020, leading up to the new year! But it only really came to fruition through a conversation in one of the Discords I belonged to way back then, when @betheflame brought up the same idea I'd been mulling over for a while --- we'd always been on the same wave length; something which definitely made us good friends! She graciously stepped aside so I could create this, as she had plenty of other things on her plate (like the kickass Stony Podcast and assisting with some charity auctions, along with a prolific writing career!), and so I took up the challenge of creating this, well, challenge for you, instead.

In 2021 I was all by my lonesome and rushed to get out a challenge that people could start putting to use, though I by no means cut any corners. And it actually turned out to be a success!!! But, simply put: this year, with help from some enthusiastic participants who had some great ideas, and who dove into the drafting process with me, I think this 2023 Fanfic Reading Challenge will be even better than the last one! It certainly is bigger, hahahaha. But really, I could not have done this without the regular, monthly feedback from @jandjsalmon and the questions and comments, put forward to me by @attractiverock, as I came up with new challenges. Of course, my best friends Annaelle, Perry_Downing, and grlie-girl deserve some shout-outs too, for listening to me… shout??? cry?? throw things??? Yeah, you really deserve more than kudos for all my ridiculousness.

BUT OKAY! Before I get carried away, here are some basic rules and info to help you succeed. Check below if you have a question, and if you can't find the answer here, you are more than welcome to send an Ask to @juuls or @fanfic-reading-challenge on Tumblr, check the latter's blog posts and FAQ, or send an email to juulna.writes@gmail.com --- both emails and Asks send me notifications pretty quickly, as does direct message on either blog!

So what is this?

Well! It's a reading challenge (much like with book reading challenges from POPSUGAR and Book Riot) but specifically designed for fanfiction. We all know we and everyone else we know is going to read at least one fic this coming year, so why not earn a spiffy, name-embossed badge while we're at it!?

That brings us to the basics…

The event runs from January 1st to December 31st, 2023. If you started a fic in 2022 but finished it in 2023, that absolutely counts in full towards the 2023 challenge and word count. Anything you read before you start this challenge (whether in January or May or October) counts too!

Signing up: You don't need to sign up at all! You can just grab a copy of the challenge spreadsheet and fill it out however you wish (or even keep track of your tasks in an entirely different manner like a Word doc). Declaring your intention to participate is more of a thing if you want to be held accountable for your goals, but it's not like we're going to be angry with you if you don't finish any of it!

This challenge operates on the honour system. If you said you completed a fic for a certain task, that's between you and whichever ghost/saint haunts/watches over you. Come January 2023, all I'll ask is just to see the document you've used to keep track of your challenge, so I can match it up to the numbers which determine which prize you get!

Yes! Prizes! Here's an example of one of the 2021FRC badges:

There are a few changes to the style of this year's challenge. Instead of multiple lists where you have to complete x amounts of tasks for each to achieve the Extreme challenge (this provided less leeway), I have combined all of the tasks into a single spreadsheet. To achieve different levels of completion, you can pick and choose whichever task you wish from anywhere on the list, as long as you complete the required number of tasks for each level.

Participant Prize: Complete at least one task from the challenge!

Regular Mode: Complete between 80 and 159 tasks.

Hard Mode: Complete between 160 and 239 tasks.

Extreme Mode: Complete at least 240 tasks.

Anything else?

Two different fic trackers/reading logs are included in this spreadsheet. The 'Fic Tracking Sheet' was created and used by @jandjsalmon during 2021 and 2022, and the 'Reading Log' was created and used by @juuls also during those years. Both have their pros and cons, so please feel free to try both, combine them, alter them, or use something else entirely! We won't take any offense whatsoever. :) Feel free to adjust them as needed and ask questions if you need to!

This challenge is for any fandom, any ship(s)… or you can use more than one fandom and/or ship to complete this!

Fics can count towards more than one goal. (It's just more fun if you use all different fics! :D)

This Challenge runs on the honour system.There is no need to comment or kudos on the fics (though this is greatly encouraged, even if just to say ‘I really enjoyed this, thanks for writing!’ for the former) and there will be no need to link to the fics you read for this challenge. There will be space where you can write the title/author—but that's the minimum required along with checking off each task you complete, when you submit the spreadsheet in January 2023 (in order to receive your prize!). I don't even need to see your reading log, if you even have one! This is supposed to be fun. :)

Don't compare yourself to others! If you can't complete the challenge, or can only complete part of it.... honestly? You're still awesome in my books. Plus, if you manage to check off even part of this crazy list, you should know you've done a damn fine job. Don't push yourself too hard, don't feel guilty if you didn't complete it... seriously, I'd still, personally, post my list even if I completed just 10 items, to show that I did do something!

If joining late, the Monthlies ('time-specific tasks') you missed can be done at any time, but the monthlies still to come should done during said month.

Maybe a bit of a repeat but... You do not need to report to me that you're finished with the challenge, but I will absolutely have a place on Tumblr where you can tag me with goals/whole challenge complete! (@fanfic-reading-challenge) Tagging the blog is the easiest way to catch my notice, or by email as per above. If you do wish to claim one of the four+ badges, you'll need to fill out a Google Submissions form I'll put together in the latter months of 2021, which will require at the least for you to link your challenge spreadsheet to me (making sure the share feature is enabled), with each completed task checked off. Preferably you include the links to the fics read or link to a Google Doc with the links (I will include examples on the Tumblr as to how I am completing this challenge), but that is not required. Honour system, remember? :)

To use the challenge spreadsheet, simply 'create a copy' (under 'File' in the browser version), and then save the copy under whatever name you wish to. After that, you can change anything you like except the goals themselves.

How to contact me.

Well, obviously you can send me an Ask on @fanfic-reading-challenge! On that Tumblr, there will also be an FAQ page (this page), and you can submit questions via the Ask box too! :) I'll keep the FAQ as up-to-date as possible.

Conversely, I have the 'messages' option turned on, so you can just send me a direct message on @fanfic-reading-challenge (or @juuls).

Tag '#2023frc' or '#2023 fic reading challenge' and I'll reblog most anything related to this challenge if/when I find it! But as said above, tagging the blog itself is probably the best option if you want a reblog/answer/interaction. :)

Comments/Suggestions/Complaints?

I recognize that there may be some things I should have included (more minority goals, but I'm goin to work on that for next year's list) or should not have included, based on each individual's personal opinion, but I created this list for fun, and the goal is to have fun, and it's a learning experience for us all! If you must criticize, please keep it constructive and polite, but also: you do not need to participate. I've done my best, am already anxious, and will be keeping an eye out for how I can make things better/more inclusive/less or more X, Y, or Z…. etc. I promise. <3 I included, for 2021 and 2022's form submission, a place where one could submit suggestions, and it's absolutely possible to leave said suggestions or comments anonymously. I'm doing my best, as have my wonderful partners in this year's, 2023's, challenge. We tried to mix things up from 2021 and 2022, so some things have been left out, or, in fact… they have been set aside for next year's challenge! 2024… seems like forever away, and now I feel cursed just for mentioning anything to do with the passing of time these days, yikes.

One Last Very Important Thing!

Based on feedback, anywhere where the challenge lists a '(relation)ship', this year you may include Gen pairings, Friendships, and Family relationships. We have and will continue to attempt to incoporate more Gen and Family-friendly (rather, no romantic or sexual) pairings/groups into the challenge where we can. This is a work in progress and we are trying to take as many suggestions as we can and incorporate them into the existing structure. One thing's for sure, it'll make the challenge a little less repetive each year --- there are only so many tasks you can incorporate before things become repetitive from year to year, I'll tell you that! But I try. :) Please address any concerns with me by any of the ways to contact me below!

E-mail: juulna.writes@gmail.com

Tumblr: @fanfic-reading-challenge

Personal/my fandom Tumblr: @juuls

Leave an Ask or send an e-mail, or some other form of polite communication!

Questions will be answered as soon as possible, though I am chronically ill, so please bear with me. No more than a week, though! Complaints will be assessed on a case by case basis. Suggestions will be given due consideration and treated according to the level of politeness therein. Thank you for your understanding!

Most Important of all…? HAVE FUN! EXPLORE NEW WORLDS! ENJOY YOURSELF! <3

(And please keep staying safe for yourself and others!)

[elenajohansenreads]

Bookoween Book Review / Books I Read in 2020

Chills - what makes it fit this prompt? While not a horror novel in any sense of the genre, this historical epic deals in large part with war, and the leadership on one side of the conflict delight in performing terrible acts upon innocents; bodily mutilation and burning alive are two of their favorites. I did my share of shivering while reading about it.

#147 - A Song for Arbonne, by Guy Gavriel Kay

The Ultimate PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with a bird on its cover

Mount TBR: 126/150

Rating: 5/5 stars

After a somewhat slow start that left me wondering (as I often do with GGK) how I would keep all the characters straight, this quickly became a story so compelling I didn't want to put it down, yet sometimes I had to because emotion or inspiration overwhelmed me.

And I didn't have trouble keeping track of everybody for long. I should really trust the author more by now, I'm most of the way through his catalog. His characters are never ambiguous or interchangeable.

While it's inevitable for most readers, myself included, to compare this to Tigana, because of its similarities or because Tigana is often considered his best work or because, like me, it was the first GGK novel I read, I find the comparison favorable. So much of what I loved about Tigana is also present here; this is the work that reminds me most of it, in good ways. The complex layers of motivations to the characters, the emphasis on artistry, the nobleman-in-hiding, the way even minor characters are memorable many chapters later when they reappear to play some small but key role in the story. The only thing that felt missing was magic, which has a much smaller presence, but for this particular tale of love and grief and revenge and war, I found I didn't mind.

I already want to read it again, and I think it will reward me when I do with extra insight and a deeper appreciation of how it balances large political forces against the small, pivotal actions of the individual, a characteristic of GGK's writing that I don't think I've found often from other authors. He takes the time to remind us that one person can still change a flow of events that otherwise seems inevitable, as well as taking the time to pause and really let us feel the emotions driving those characters.

Will it eventually unseat Tigana as my favorite GGK novel? I don't know yet; it's hardly fair to stack a first read against something I've reread at least half a dozen times. (Also, I should probably give River of Stars a chance as well, I adored it but also haven't reread it yet.) But it's the first novel since RoS that makes me feel like it might, given enough time and attention.

[readmorepoets]

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 ?? <33

thank you kenna for asking i love you <3 please tell me any books you're interested in reading as well

1. What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

bestiary by k ming chang because i was supposed to read it before 2022 ended. i'll list some that intimidate me most: rebecca, wuthering heights, p&p, go tell it on the mountain. DO NOT speak to me about whale weekly i'm so annoyed by how behind i am i'm two seconds away from giving up

2. What are 2-5 already published nonfiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

underland by robert mcfarlane 2023 is your year. h is for hawk by helen mcdonald 2023 is your year. women race & class 2023 is your year. why be happy when you could be normal 2023 is your year. they can't kill us until they kill us 2023 is your year.

3. Any poetry on your TBR? yes all the poetry i couldn’t get to this year: tommy pico (feed), donika kelly (bestiary), louise gluck (1962-2020), anne carson (autobiography of red), ocean vuong (time is a mother). it would be cool to attempt homer?

5. What 2023 new releases are you most looking forward to?

ALECTO THE NINTH OCTOBER 10TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (edit: NOT confirmed date but goodreads has it like that!) a day of fallen night by samantha shannon, chlorine by jade song, HOPEFULLY my favorite thing is monsters pt 2 by emil ferris and death valley by melissa broder. jenny odell has a new book coming but i'm afraid </3

6. Do you have any conceptual reading goals? E.g., I plan to read books on food history.

mostly i want to read the books that i've been meaning to read for years and years. even though i know i'm not gonna stick to it 100% i've got a list of priority books and a lot of them i've been wanting to read for at least 5 years or even more. i really wanna give all of those books a chance... this is a cop-out answer to a good question. i feel like i'm missing out on a lot! i want to strengthen my foundations be it in fiction or theory. and foundations usually come from older texts so that’s where i’m kinda directing myself. like i have a book entirely about genetics on the list cause that’s the basis for everything right and that's what i want to do for all of my interests read like, texts that will build me foundations for the rest

8. Are there any reading challenges you want to try? have not found a challenge where i like all the prompts (and if i'm doing a challenge i would like to do all the prompts RIGHT) so i had sketched out one of my own where i mixed and matched mostly from the popsugar challenge and ended with like 35 prompts but i'm not sure if i'll stick to it!

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

March Reading Wrap-Up 📚

Given how much stress and anxiety I’ve been under with this whole COVID-19 situation, I feel good about how much reading I got done this month. I had to make myself take a couple of mental health days just to breathe, but I’ve never been happier to have books as an escape mechanism. ... Hopefully things will get back to normal sooner than later ... but until then, at least I know I’ll have all the time in the world to tackle my always growing TBR.

Final Ratings The Color Purple | Alice Walker | 5🌟 SLAY | Brittney Morris | 5🌟 Heads of the Colored People | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | 4.5🌟 Parable of the Sower | Octavia Butler | 4🌟 These Ghosts Are Family | Maisy Card | 4.5🌟 Monday’s Not Coming | Tiffany D. Jackson | 5🌟 Who Put This Song On? | Morgan Parker | 5🌟