2025 Reading Challenge discussion

The theme for September is Time to Learn! It is strange to think about "back to school" when summer just started. The theme is completely open to interpretation: as long as you can tell us why you think it should fit the theme, it counts.

Please nominate only one book and ensure you either link the book or give the name of the author as well to avoid confusion. Please do not nominate books from a series, unless it is the first book in the series. You can second someone else's nomination, but that will count as your own. Nominations cannot have been chosen for a past group read (past buddy reads are fine).

This thread will be closed by July 22, and we will choose ten books for the poll. If there are more than ten books nominated, we will choose the ten most nominated. If there is still a tie to get into the top ten, we'll go back to the Goodreads average rating to see which is highest.

This is perhaps a little bit of a stretch, but I find that I learn a lot when I travel, so I'd like to nominate Michelle de Kretser's Questions of Travel.

I am going to nominate The Girl with All the Gifts by MR Carey. It takes place in a very different type of school. It is one of my favorite reads this year.

I nominate a book to learn from: The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

[...] We learn that Marie Curie used to provoke jealousy in colleagues' wives when she'd invite them into closets to see her glow-in-the-dark experiments. And that Lewis and Clark swallowed mercury capsules across the country and their campsites are still detectable by the poison in the ground. Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium? And why did tellurium lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?

I nominate The Mysterious Benedict Society. This is one of my favorite books, in which four kids, all with talents that make them geniuses in very different ways, go on a secret mission to save the world. The book is full of tests and riddles the characters have to solve, and it was really fun to try to figure them out alongside the characters.

i want to nominate harry potter & the sorcerer stone by jk Rowling. young people starting to learn how to be proper witches & wizards

I nominate Bad Science. We can all learn something from nonfiction books and this one humorously debunks "bad" science.

I nominate Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time.

I nominate Columbine by Dave Cullen. It's about the 1999 American school shootings.

I second The Mysterious Benedict Society.

I'm going to nominate Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.

I want to nominate What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Is a nice learning from questions that kind sound illogical or secretly we want to ask but never dare... It put science at hand for those of us who never really use it at the University or in the daily basis.... I think it creates respect for the scientific community and at the same time make us laugh a bit, something like watching the IG Nobel Prize....

I'll second Columbine. It's an amazing, well-written and well-researched book.

I'm going to nominate The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is a great suggestion, Caro! I'm a big fan of his webcomic and blog and have been meaning to read the book.

(Note to Jodi: this is not a second, since I'd like to keep my original nomination.)

Wow! I go away for a few days and look at all of the nominations!!

Chains
It makes you think what puts you in chains and is a different perspective on being a slave.

I second What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. I was already on the brink of buying it once ;)

While I'm tempted to nominate Holes, I think I'm going to go with The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis.

He writes college students with a huge amount of insight, if Less Than Zero is anything to go by. To my knowledge, it is mostly about college kids who are doing everything but studying, and is meant to be very funny and sharp. The characters are struggle to find their way through college life, and deal with what romance/sex means.

I second The Mysterious Benedict Society

I nominate People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, a book about the history and preservation of a rare manuscript. deleted

I am going to nominate Indian Horse. I am nominating this book because I think it is so important for people to understand what happened to First Nations people in Canada. Children were forced to leave their families into Residential Schools and forced to give up their culture. This is an important book where we can learn what First Nations people went through and still are going through in Canada.

I nominate The Shadow of the Wind because it is a book about books being destroyed to prevent attainment of some secret knowledge.

Jodi wrote: "I am going to nominate Indian Horse. I am nominating this book because I think it is so important for people to understand what happened to First Nations people in Canada. Children ..."

Wow, Jodi, that sounds amazing! Now I hope your book wins instead of my own nomination! ;)

I love Shadow of the Wind it's a fantastic book but as I have read it I'm going to nominate Twelve Years a Slave as learning about our past helps us to combat ignorance and cruelty in our future in whatever form that may come in.

katie wrote: "Jodi wrote: "I am going to nominate Indian Horse. I am nominating this book because I think it is so important for people to understand what happened to First Nations people in Cana..."

Thanks Katie. Removing First Nations children from homes, forcing them to give up their culture and Residential Schools, where they were abused is a huge black mark in Canada's history and so many people do not know about it. After affects of the abuse from residential schools still affects First Nations people today. I think it would be an interesting read. I plan on reading it even if it doesn't win. There are many good nominations suggested.

Jodi wrote: "katie wrote: "Jodi wrote: "I am going to nominate Indian Horse. I am nominating this book because I think it is so important for people to understand what happened to First Nations ..."

I have read some about it, both in the US and Canada, but mostly short nonfiction articles. I love that there is a recent book about it, I am definitely putting it on my shelf whether it wins or not. Maybe we could make it a future buddy read if it doesn't make it as the Group read? ;o)

Yes that sounds good Katie!

I have deleted my second of The mysterious Benedict Society because I just stumbled on an interesting book that fits the theme. Looking for Alaska

Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

I second The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Sounds good Natalie. Thanks for letting me know. Looking for Alaska was a good book. Good nomination.

Natalie wrote: "I have deleted my second of The mysterious Benedict Society because I just stumbled on an interesting book that fits the theme. Looking for Alaska

Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existe..."

I second Looking For Alaska by John Green

I nominate The Perks of Being a Wallflower.Since that is about a boy who has recently entered high school and everything is kind of undiscovered for him.It's a simple book with nice characters.

I will nominate Go Set a Watchman - because we all read To Kill A Mockingbird at school right?

Jodi wrote: "I am going to nominate Indian Horse. I am nominating this book because I think it is so important for people to understand what happened to First Nations people in Canada. Children ..."

Can I delete my nomination (message 22) and second Indian Horse? It sounds amazing.

Yes for sure you can Katie. You can change your nominations all the way up until July 22nd, which is the nominations closing date. After the nominations are closed, I organize all of the nominations.

Meg wrote: "I will nominate Go Set a Watchman - because we all read To Kill A Mockingbird at school right?"

Unfortunately Meg we can't have Go Set a Watchman as a nomination. It is part of our rules that we can only nominate the first book in a book series. We want to give everyone the chance to participate in our monthly group novels and anyone who hasn't read To Kill a Mockingbird won't be able to participate. Sorry about that. Please feel free to nominate a different book or second a book already nominated.

Meg wrote: "I will nominate Go Set a Watchman - because we all read To Kill A Mockingbird at school right?"

You are wrong Meg... all people in US read To Kill a Mockingbirdat school, those of us who are from another country did not hear about it untill we got more involve in reading and pay attention to what other people read and discover that in US is a classic. But for must of us is not a mandatory book, but neverthyeless the story can be understood in the subject because it teach us about tolerance and justice. I read it last year and really like it. But maybe we can have it in a Buddy Read? Pretty sure that more than one person will join.

Caro wrote: "Meg wrote: "I will nominate Go Set a Watchman - because we all read To Kill A Mockingbird at school right?"

You are wrong Meg... all people in US read [book:To Kill a Mockingbird|2..."

Actually I am not American and I read it in school! I think a buddy read is a good idea. I'm sure a lot of people will be reading this book in the next few months.

Meg wrote: "Caro wrote: "Meg wrote: "I will nominate Go Set a Watchman - because we all read To Kill A Mockingbird at school right?"

Apollogies... I am surprise to hear that, I know people from many places and nobody listen about that book besides my american friends before I started to read it. Must be part of English literature classes. Nevevertheless is a great book and I think that more people should read it, and I will be willing to participate in a Buddy reads if someone else is willing to. I think that a ook that was the genesis of To Kill a Mockingbird it has a lot to say. Let me know when you will be up to read it!

The story I read on Harper lee was see wrote a book. Then editors had her rewrite it and it became to kill a mockingbird. She then wrote another book or two but never had them published. Not sure if the current one is the one she did before or after. The latest stories on her seem to fail to mention her later unpublished books. I've read the first 3 or 4 chapters of the current one and it's pretty good so far.

In my high school in the U.S. we only seemed read books by British authors so to kill a mockingbird was definitely one we never read.

Just a few more days for nominations! I am so sad July is almost over!

With my current pile of library books I believe I am too far behind to participate in September, but I'm going to throw in a vote for Perks of Being a Wallflower. I'm #725 in line for Go Set a Watchman at the library.

I'd like to second the 'Indian Horse'.

I nominate the first book in Gail Carriger's Finishing School Series Etiquette & Espionage. I would love to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality! steampunk, spy school, mechanimals, and a young lady full of spunk!

I second Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. I love that book and haven't read it in years!

The poll is up and ready! Please vote for our September Group Read! Click on the link below. https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

There are just a few days left to vote for the September Group Read. Please make sure you get your vote in! Lots of people have voted.