Bone tired

[cornerofmadness]

But the yoga went better than today ever before. I'm too tired to even watch the two Hazbin shows but that is a mistake because the damn content creators put MAJOR spoilers in their fucking YT titles which I saw as I turned on music at work. I am beyond furious. I hate being robbed of discovering things on my own

So I'm watching tournament of champions holidays version (I like this one because it feels the most real because the judges are judging without the chef standing their with their lack of poker faces) and was confronted by two of the ones I liked in the past having sad stories on their own (that I hadn't heard before. Shirley Chung barely able to talk because she had stage 4 tongue cancer and lost a lot of it and Tobias Dorzan who is recovering from being shot 11 times this time last year which shocks me that I did not hear about this)


So for the last several years I've done the Popsugar Reading Challenge The theme was supposed to be garden and they have ONE garden prompt. It is filled with issues with pregnancy which is not great. Some of this is going to be very triggering to some people (not me but man if I was struggling with infertility I wouldn't like that prompt) and I am not a fan. What I need from you is some help. I've put the prompts under the cut. If it was *** I could use a suggestion if you have them.



Regular
1 A book where gardening or a garden is central to the plot
2 A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman
3 A book you meant to read in 2025
4 A book that starts with the letter "Z"
5 A book about women astronauts
6 A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight ***
7 A book about a granny hobby
8 A book about a sexless marriage ***
9 A book with a "type C" character
10 A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover
11 A book with a dad as the primary caregiver
12 A book with "pop" or "sugar" in the title ****
13 A book featuring a character with a hidden past
14 A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan ***
15 A book about new beginnings
16 A book less than 260 pages
17 A book about your favorite event in the Winter Olympics
18 A love story that defies social boundaries ***
19 A book about teen angst
20 A book with a character who does Pilates or Lagree ****
21 A book about a bachelorette trip ****
22 A book about a book club
23 A book you were hoping would fit into a prompt but doesn't
24 A book about postpartum ***
25 A book that explores influencer culture
26 A book with a character who navigates infertility ***
27 A book with a character who has curly hair
28 A book about debt
29 A book that takes place during harvesting season
30 A travel ghost story ***
31 A book that makes you feel FOMO
32 A book with an underwater civilization ***
33 A book about college
34 A book with a trans or nonbinary protagonist
35 A book that makes you want to travel to Italy
36 A book about a mob (fiction or nonfiction)
37 A book about a pop star
38 A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title
39 A book with a character who runs a marathon ****
40 A book outside your comfort zone

Advanced
41 A book in a different format than your usual: physical, audio, eBook
42 A book inspired by a real song, album, band, or artist
43 Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (1) ***
44 Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (2) *** (i know I could the kellermans but I'm open to suggestions)
45 A book that features birding ***
46 A sapphic comic
47 A book told entirely through letters ***
48 A book with a shadow daddy
49 A book with a mention of your zodiac sign
50 A book about Afrofuturism


What I Just Finished Reading:

Spellbound - turned into 100% male fantasy fulfillment so disappointing

Youth Camp - a surprisingly good demon hunting graphic novel that actually had some fun evangelical characters (among others)


What I am Currently Reading:

Blacksad - a anthropomorphic noir graphic novel

Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio - you know why

Anne of Green Gables - I am shocked at how much I like this


Revenge Serve Royal - historical mystery

What I Plan to Read Next: Elfquest for popsugar


And October's reads. You know the drill. I love talking books so if you see something you want to chat about, let's do it


Tanequil (High Druid of Shannara, #2) fantasy

Ghost Roast YA graphic novel, paranormal

Ash's Cabin LGBT YA graphic novel

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World horror/urban fantasy

X-Gender, Vol. 1 LGBT manga

The Cat Who Saved Books magic realism

The Gallery Assistant mystery

Mirage City LGBT historical mystery

The Queen of Blood Fantasy

Comments

[dr_zook]

Aww, I know I really liked Anne of Green Gables as a kid! I'm not sure if I want to find out if it stuck. ;)

What's a travel ghost story? Are travel ghosts a thing??

If you're still looking for books written by spouses and open for fantasy stuff: I really enjoyed the Falcon Dreams series (three books) by Stephan Grundy and his wife Melodi Lammond-Grundy as a youth! He also wrote a great take on queer!Hagen from the Song of the Nibelungs called Attila's Treasure, which was one of my favourite books when I was younger!

[cornerofmadness]

I always read mysteries and SF even as a kid and it was by a woman about a girl so that insured my h.s. lit classes would never make us read it (eye roll) Anne is a bit of a mary sue but she's endearing.

I think Popsugar made that up but I'm assuming it's a ghost in a hotel or b&b so I can handle that one

cool thanks. the debate is did they team write it and that's what the prompts mean or do they write independently. I'm not sure but I'll look into these. thanks

[angelfirenze]

There's a wonderful graphic novel memoir called Stitches by David Small and he's from Michigan and grew up in Detroit.

My sister bought me the special edition of it and I really should reread it.

[cornerofmadness]

I generally am uninterested in memoirs but holy hell the blurb on this is bonkers and terrifying and yes does sound like something I'd like to read. Thanks!

[angelfirenze]

It took me a while to find this comment. You're quite welcome. I'm rereading it. I honestly wonder how he made it.

[cornerofmadness]

sounds like it from the blurb

[shanachie_quill]

For traveling ghost: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198139926-aftermarket-afterlife

Possibly for overweight MC: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222139761-a-tale-of-mirth-magic

The first is the latest in a series and the second I'm like halfway through... but my suggestions.

[cornerofmadness]

oh thanks. I like Seanan as well I probably have traveling ghost stories on my shelf somewhere but less sure about overweight MCs so that one looks fun

[shanachie_quill]

I love Seanan. LOL I'm sure you do have traveling ghosts on your shelf. If you read it, I hope you enjoy.

[cornerofmadness]

I'll let you know

[shanachie_quill]

Any luck with traveling ghosts?

[spikedluv]

That sucks about the spoilers. TVLine does that all the time with the urls to their recaps. That has always irked me. Why do you need to put the spoiler in the url when you could just use the title of the ep?!!

Wow, those are some major things they had to recover from!

A book with a character who runs a marathon Forrest Gump is the first thing that came to mind

[cornerofmadness]

TV line has absolutely no excuse for it. They're not a click to stay alive reaction site

It was shocking, especially Tobias getting shot

I hadn't thought of Forrest. thanks

[spikedluv]

You're welcome!

[kitarella_imagines]

I'm not much good at thinking up prompts off the top of my head, but I found a few garden inspired ideas on some pages. Hope they help?

https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/writing/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-story-starter-gardens/

https://digitalphrases.com/writing-prompts/miscellaneous-writing-prompts/writing-prompts-about-gardening/

Oh and one more!

https://www.pathsoflearning.net/2554/best-nature-based-storytelling-prompts-for-creative-writing/

[cornerofmadness]

thanks I appreciate it

[suzume]

I think Elmore Leonard spent a long time in Michigan? (Haven't personally read any of his books though, so I can't make a specific suggestion)

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. Was he? I actually dislike his books unfortunately

[suzume]

Hmm, I think Edna Ferber was also born in Michigan? Didn't she write "Show Boat?"

[cornerofmadness]

I do not know. I'll have to go look, thanks

[suzume]

I hope that was at least...moderately helpful?

[cornerofmadness]

it was

[suzume]

^^

[sylvanwitch]

For #6, Kerry Greenwood, who writes the Phryne Fisher novels has another mystery series set in Melbourne in the modern day featuring a zaftig baker who loves her size and is not trying to lose weight. They’re called the Corinna Chapman mysteries.

[cornerofmadness]

ooo thanks, I can look for that.

[fauxklore]

For a book about a book club, I liked The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.

[cornerofmadness]

cool thanks