PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge

 

 

The folks at PopSugar are back with their boundaries-pushing reading challenge for 2021. they encourage us to expand our reading horizons with reading prompts that may push us out of our comfort zones. They give us 40 standard prompts along with 10 more for those who are very committed. We don't have to do all of them--the goal is to read more and to read more of the things we might not normally choose. I wasn't sure I could do enough of the prompts this year, but looking over my reading I've done pretty well. So, I'm putting up a post. As in the past, I have set a personal goal of 20 prompts--from either list--in order to claim the challenge complete. I may do more.

 

Here are the prompts that have most appealed to me--for the full list, please click the link above.

1. Published in 2021: What the Devil Knows by C. S. Harris (7/22/21)

3. With a heart, diamond, club, or spade on cover: Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (8/22/21)

4. By an author who shares your zodiac sign: The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (7/29/21)

5. With a gem, mineral, or rock in title: The Hardway Diamonds Mystery by Miles Burton

6. Main character works at your current/dream job: Final Notice by Jo Dereske [librarian] (4/27/21)

9. Book with a family tree: After the Funeral/Funerals Are Fatal by Agatha Christie (8/14/21)

13. Locked-room mystery: The Clue of the New Pin by Edgar Wallace (5/15/21)

15. Set mostly or entirely outdoors: A Silver Spade by Louisa Revell (6/9/21)

20. Book about do-overs or fresh starts: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict (8/18/21) [Agatha Christie has a fresh start at the end of the book)

23. Set somewhere I'd like to visit in 2021 (or any time, really): Death Under the Sun by Agatha Christie [the Devon coast in England] (8/10/21)

25. Title starts with "Q," "X," or "Z": Quaker Witness by Irene Allen (7/19/21)

27. About a social justice issue: Bluegate Fields by Anne Perry [Charlotte, her sister, and Aunt Vespasia are organizing other society women to influence their husbands over child poverty and working conditions in Victorian London] (8/6/21)

29. Black & White Cover: Why Kill the Innocent by C. S. Harris (6/23/21)

31. Same title as a song: A Night to Remember by Walter Lord (7/14/27)

35. Different format than you normally read: Murder at Bray Manor by Lee Strauss [audio] (2/21/21)

36. Has fewer than 1,000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads: The Sound of Insects by Mildred Davis [4 reviews on Goodreads] (8/5/21)

38. About art or an artist: Lord Mullion's Secret by Michael Innes [lead character is an artist] (7/31/21)

39. Everyone seems to have read but you: The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (2/4/21)

Advanced/Bonus

41. Longest book (page count) on TBR: Vintage Mystery & Detective Stories by David Stuart Davies [ed]

42. Shortest book (page count) on TBR: Buzzy Beaver by Alice Sankey

44. Ugliest cover: Theoretically Dead by Tinker Marks (5/19/21)

45: On TBR the longest: Rutland Place by Anney Perry [on TBR since 7/1/91] (8/5/21)

46. TBR book meant to read last year, but didn't: The Montmartre Investigation by Claude Izner (5/17/21)

47. TBR book associated with a favorite person, place, or thing: The 13th Warrior (aka Eaters of the Dead) by Michael Crichton [give from Paula--BFF] (5/22/21)

48. Chosen from TBR list at random: Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal (1/2/21)

50. Free book from TBR list (gift/borrowed/library): Crimson Snow by Martin Edwards (ed) [library] (1/13/21)