Guest post by Kyle
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Reading Challenge: Round 3
The POPSUGAR book challenge continues! If you haven’t started yet, get busy! I have read a lot of good books, a couple of not-so-great books, and a few that will go down on my “all-time” list. Additionally, I have read several books that I wouldn’t have otherwise undertaken (and most have been worth the while).
For those of you completely unfamiliar with the POPSUGAR challenge, it’s a list of prompts to fulfill instead of a traditional reading list. If you missed my first post of the series, here are the books I chose for prompts 1-10. If you missed the first post, then you probably missed the second post as well. Here are my picks for prompts 11-20 from the 2018 list.
Now for the good stuff. These are my picks for prompts 21-30:
21. A book with your favorite color in the title
As I continued thinking about my favorite color, I was trying to think of “favorite” in some sort of context. In the context of shoes, my favorite color is white (with a little bit of black). I couldn’t find any suitable books with “white with a little black” in the title. In the context of clothing, I think my favorite color is gray. However, I live in America where gray is spelled with an “a” and not an “e” so Fifty Shades of Grey (E.L. James) was out!
Finally, I decided to go with how I would have answered the “what’s your favorite color” question as a child: blue. A Spool of Blue Thread (Anne Tyler) follows the Whitshank family through four generations of happiness and dysfunction. So, it’s not just us? Good.
22. A book with alliteration in the title
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) is the first result on the Goodreads Alliteration in Book Titles thread. Number three on that list is Sense and Sensibility. So, Jane Austen is the alliteration master. The story of Elizabeth Bennett and her relationship with Mr. Darcy, this book covers manners, upbringing, and marriage and family in 19th century England.
One of the most interesting tidbits I picked up after reading the book is that its working title was First Impressions, which is a very fitting title. I don’t know if I’ll move on to another Austen book, but she does have a very distinctive style of writing that I find interesting.
23. A book about time travel
The book I originally selected for this prompt was moved to a harder-to-satisfy prompt that will be covered in a future post. When I moved that book, I had to find another to satisfy this prompt. I have seen the movie adaption, so The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) fits in with my M.O. But I didn’t really enjoy the movie, so I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I would enjoy the book.
The next book I considered was 11.22.63 (Stephen King), but I am also reading the Bill Hodges trilogy (unrelated to this reading challenge) and I didn’t want to add on another lengthy Stephen King novel.
This will be my only re-read for this year’s book challenge. Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut) was the first book I read by this author and for a while, I would’ve considered it to be among my favorite books. Billy Pilgrim is the protagonist of this anti-war classic. After surviving the bombing of Dresden, Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, traveling back and forth, visiting the events of his life repeatedly.
24. A book with a weather element in the title
A children’s classic, 
25. A book set at sea
My son and I are big fans of Pippi Longstocking. When I saw this prompt, I knew that Pippi in the South Seas (Astrid Lindgren) would be perfect! Unfortunately, while the characters do take a ship to an island, I couldn’t even talk myself into letting this book count for this prompt. So, while I do strongly recommend all things Pippi, I had to find something else for the book challenge.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to look far. One of the other reading lists I keep are Goodreads Choice Award winners. I don’t intend to read every award winner, but I do make note of the winners that seem interesting. One of these winners from 2015 is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Erik Larson). Some of you probably learned about the Lusitania in the context of pulling America into World War I, but Larson’s research provides a much more accurate portrayal of the impact of the ship’s sinking (100+ year old spoiler). Additionally, Larson uses the passengers own words (through letters, telegrams, diaries, etc.) to tell the story with more emotion and from a different perspective than you get in a history class.
26. A book with an animal in the title
Let’s be honest. The third Millennium book was going to be a part of this book challenge. It could have fit in a number of prompts, but since this prompt was specific, I went with it. The hornet of genus vespa, class insecta, kingdom animalia might not be high on the list of things that you think of when you hear the word animal, but that’s not the point.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Stieg Larsson) was translated from the original Swedish title Luftslottet som Sprängdes, which literally translates to The Air Castle that was Blown Up. As I am writing this, I’m only about halfway through the book, so while I can’t be 100% sure, I think it is metaphorical. I’ll update this post if an actual air castle shows up in that last half of the book and gets blown up.
This installment of the Millennium series finds Lisbeth Salander recovering from the events of the last novel, while Mikael Blomkvist works to prove her innocence. Additionally, Salander plots her revenge against the people who tried to destroy her life: a father who tried to have her killed and a corrupt government entity trying to protect her father.
Interestingly, Stieg Larson died before his books were published, so this was supposed to be the final book of the series. However, David Lagercrantz has released two additional books to make five total for the series.
27. A book set on a different planet
With some prompts, you just know what you’re going to read. I’m sure there are many books set on different planets. But how many of them have just been adapted into blockbuster feature films? The Martian (Andy Weir). That’s it.
Mark Watney is fatally injured during an emergency abort of the latest manned mission to Mars. Or so thought his crew. He survives. He is isolated (the only person on the planet) and he can’t communicate with his crew aboard the Hermes or with NASA back on Earth. The odds are against him in a hostile environment and only his resourcefulness to keep him alive.
28. A book with song lyrics in the title
I cheated on this one. There is no way to deny it. But, I’m in control. I decide what works and what doesn’t work. When you do your book challenge, you’re in charge and you don’t have to answer to anyone!
I think the purpose of this prompt is to find a book that has a song lyric in the title with the implication that the song existed first. I went the other way. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote) came well before the Deep Blue Something song was released in the mid-1990s. Who cares? I don’t.
I had never read the story of Holly Golightly, so it was interesting to read the story that produced the familiar name. Also, this edition contains three highly-praised short stories, so be sure to read them too.
29. A book about or set on Halloween
My middle child loves Halloween. He loves wearing his “pumpkin shirt” year-round. He even asked for a Halloween-themed birthday party when he turned three (read about it here)! So this prompt excited me because I knew I could pick a children’s book and read it with him. While I have no problem incorporating children’s books into the book challenge, I don’t use board books or picture books. Those are the books he loves, so I wanted to find a “longer” book to read with him, but decided that we would also read some of his Halloween favorites as well.
30. A book with characters who are twins
Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese) is the story of Marion and Shiva stone, twin brothers orphaned by their mother’s death during childbirth and abandonment by their father. Growing up in Addis Ababa (my second favorite world capital – Djibouti’s #1, if you’re wondering), as Ethiopia moves toward revolution, the brothers are torn apart by their love for the same woman. Marion moves to New York City and has a chance encounter with the father that abandoned him as an infant, the world-renowned surgeon Thomas Stone.
What’s on Your Book Challenge?
Have you started the POPSUGAR book challenge? What did you choose for these prompts? Do any of these books interest you? Tell me what you’ve read and what you enjoyed. Even if you’re not taking part in the challenge, I still want to know what books you recommend. Maybe I can use them in the future!
Still trying to decide? Don’t forget to check out my picks for the first 10 prompts for more inspiration!
My Pick:
Here’s @oscarshead with my favorite book out of this set of prompts.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Erik Larson)