2025 Reading Challenge discussion

INDEPENDENT READING
Duration: 1 July - 31 July 2019

For this challenge, we are giving you a lot of freedom. There are almost no prompts to follow as you are at liberty to choose your own independent reading. The only rule is that the books you read for this challenge should be standalone books that are not part of a series.
Let us know below how many books you want to read for this challenge.

This challenge was inspired by SarahKat and Aubrey. SarahKat will be leading it

Welcome everyone! I'll keep track of the challenge here.

Participants

Aj: 4/5
Allie: 3/7
Amy: 10/5 Complete!
Ashley: 3/3- Complete!
Aubrey: 3/3 Complete!
Brittany: 3/3 Complete!
Carmen: 21/15 Complete!
Catka: 5/5- Complete!
Charity: 12/7 Complete!
Cindy III: 0/3
Chloe: 4/4 Complete!
Crystal: 4/3 Complete!
Dalynn: 0/1
Debra: 0/5
Edie: 2/8
Emily: 1/5
Gretchen: 1/5
Janine: 7/7 Complete!
Jeannine: 4/4 Complete!
Jennifer: 0/2
Jennifer (msg 113): 3/3- Complete!
June: 4/5
Kathy: 3/5
Kelly: 6/3 Complete!
Kristin: 2/5
Lindsay: 4/3 Complete!
Lucian: 6/5 Complete!
Luisa: 0/5
Lynn: 4/5
Marc: 0/3
Margie: 18/15 Complete!
Maria A: 0/5
matilde: 2/5
Megan BG: 9/7 Complete!
Nicole: 12/3 Complete!
oshizu: 12/10 - Complete!
Rachael: 3/3 - Complete!
Sabah: 0/3
Samantha: 5/5 Complete!
Sarah (msg 8): 2/2 Complete!
Sarah (msg 89): 5/5 Complete!
Sarahkat: 8/5- Complete!
Satin: 9/5 - Complete!
Seluxes: 0/10
Stephanie (msg 54): 3/3 Complete!
Stephanie (msg 78): 4/4 Complete!
Sunny: 5/5- Complete!
Susan: 3/5
Suzanne: 2/2 Complete!
TerryJane: 22/15 Complete!
Trisha: 8/6- Complete!
Ziggy: 5/4 Complete!

Thank you for a wonderful July challenge, SarahKat!
Please sign me up for five books!
(Increased to 10 books on 8 July.)

📗Progress: 12/10
✔️1. A Brief History of Seven Killings (Marlon James)
✔️2. Under the Midnight Sun (Keigo Higashino)
✔️3. Not Quite Narwhal (Jessie Sima)
✔️4. Krik? Krak! (Edwidge Danticat)
✔️5. L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food (Roy Choi)
✔️6. Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimananda Ngozi Adichie)
✔️7. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (Michael Pollan)
✔️8. The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood)
✔️9. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (Ocean Vuong)
✔️10. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (David Grann)
✔️11. Tropic of Orange (Karen Tei Yamashita)
✔️12. Bulibasha: Mahana (Witi Ihimaera)

Welcome oshizu!

I'm also going to try for 5.

Potentials:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien

Hola!
I have in mind to read a lot of classics this summer, so I'm going to try for 15 in july.

PROGRESS: 21/15
My prospective list for the month includes:
1. Gulliver's Travels
2. War and Peace
✔3. The Moonstone
4. East of Eden
✔5. Todos los fuegos el fuego
✔6. Captains Courageous
7. The Bell Jar
✔8. A Brief History of Time
✔9. Cotillion
✔10. Frederica
✔11. The Unknown Ajax
✔12. Sin novedad en el frente
✔13. A Farewell to Arms
✔14. All the King's Men
15. Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder

Other books that fit the challenge:
✔16. Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela
✔17. The Monkey's Paw: A Story in Three Scenes
✔18. Heart Of The Matter
✔19. La breve y maravillosa vida de Óscar Wao
✔20. Baby Proof
✔21. Searching for Schindler: A Memoir
✔22. Tigre blanco
✔23. Silent Spring
✔24. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
✔25. Un día de cólera
✔26. Criadas y Señoras
Great challenge, by the way.

Total: 2/2 - complete!

√ 1. In the Country of Last Things ★★★
√ 2. I'm Thinking of Ending Things ★★★★

sign me up for 5 books
1.Be Still My Mind
2.12 Days
3.Don't Panic7/18/19 3 stars
4.The Lake House7/8/19 4 stars
5.Darkness7/15/19

I will aim for 3 books please :)

COMPLETED: 3/3
1. Good Omens finished 2 July, ⭐⭐⭐⭐ with review
2. Bodies finished 11 July, ⭐⭐⭐ with review
3. Troilus and Cressida finished 18 July, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have a hard time reconciling this challenge with the Serial Reader challenge. Anyhoo, I have 3 standalone books in mind for this month:

1. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
2. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
3. tba, maybe Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein

Completed: 0/3

INDEPENDENT READING
Duration: 1 July - 31 July 2019

The only rule is that the books you read for this challenge should be standalone books that are not part of a series.

4/7 as of July 22

1) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

2) The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life for the campus LGBTQ+ book club

3) A Closed and Common Orbit

4) Ties

5) Where the Crawdads Sing

6) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

7) The Wife Between Us

I’m in for 3 books :-)

#1 Lion by Saroo Brierley - currently reading
#2
#3

0/3

I'm in for 3 books

Possibilities
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The History of Bees
Paper Towns
The Wonder

Completed
✅And the Mountains Echoed
✅Like Water for Chocolate
✅ The Power: WINNER OF THE 2017 BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
✅The History of Bees

Fun challenge! I'll try for 15.

Progress: 18/15 - Challenge Complete!

1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
2. The Devotion of Suspect X
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
4. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
5. If, Then
6. Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger
7. Magic for Liars
8. The Kiss Quotient
9. Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy
10. Falling Man
11. Very Nice
12. The Cutaway
13. Forty Rooms
14. Women Talking
15. My Sister, the Serial Killer
16. The Gone Dead
17. Things Fall Apart
18. The Female Persuasion

I’m in for 7.

12/7

1. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
2. Pride by Ibi Zoboi
3. This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender
4. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
5. The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen
6. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
7. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett
8. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
9. Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
10. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
11. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
12. The Opposite of You by Justin A. Reynolds

Amazing challenge!
Sign me up for 5 please!!!!

Challenge: 6 books.

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Finished.
2. The Prophet - Finished.
3. The Remains of the Day - Finished.
4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Finished.
5. Lady Susan - Finished.
6. A Christmas Carol - Finished.
7. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Finished.
8. An Ideal Husband - Finished.

Hurray!

I'll aim for 5 books!


Books completed: 1/5

1. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
2.
3.
4.
5.

Potential options:
What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'm in for five:

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Where the Red Fern Grows

Follow My Leader

Grateful American

What the Night Sings

5/5

SarahKat wrote: "Welcome oshizu!

I'm also going to try for 5.

Potentials:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
[book:Siddhartha|5..."

The Historian is a fabulous novel!!! I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you SarahKat for this great challenge idea!
I am in for 3 (working through some series as well right now)

I'll try for 2

Sign me up for 5 please!

10/5-- Challenge Complete!

1. A World Ablaze: The Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the Reformation
2. The Canterbury Sisters
3. North and South
4. Without a Backward Glance
5. Meet Me at the Museum
6. Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America
7. And Then There Were None
8, Salem Falls
9. Beneath the Lion's Wings
10. Falling with Wings: A Mother's Story

I’m in

4/5

1. Straight into Darkness July 18
2. FrankensteinJuly 31
3. The Paying Guests- DNF
4. Sula July 19
5. The Road July 11

I´m in with 5

1. The Rest of Us Just Live Here
2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
3.
4.
5.

4/3

1. The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life after Romeo and Juliet
2. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
3. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
4. Dreamcatcher

I will read 7.

Progress: 3/7
The Call of the Wild
The Princess Diarist
The Truth About Forever

Possibilities:
Spinning Silver
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
The Night Circus
The Convenient Marriage
Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes
The 7 Mindsets To Live Your Ultimate Life: An unexpected blueprint for an extraordinary life
Organizing Plain & Simple: A Ready Reference Guide with Hundreds of Solutions to Your Everyday Clutter Challenges
The Great Alone
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
Broken Things
Whirlpool
Mrs. Dalloway

I'm in for 3!

SHOUT
The Bonesetter's Daughter
Desser the Best Ever Cat
Wintergirls
Speak
Emmy & Oliver
The 19th Wife
My Heart and Other Black Holes
The Joy Luck Club
Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir
Fangirl
The Danish Girl

Goal Met So Far: 12/3

I'm in for 5!

5/5

1. Summer of '69
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Last Time I Lied
4. Lock Every Door
5. Gods of Jade and Shadow

Hi all!
I'm new to the group and in for the July challenge!!
As I have a stack of books on my nightstand, my goal is to read five of them.
0/5
1. Come As You Are
2. A Prayer For Owen Meany
3. The Year of Magical Thinking
4. Burnout
5. Liar's Club

Hello! I'm in for 4, don't want to be too ambitious this month:

1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
2. Full Dark, No Stars
3. The Metamorphosis
4. Jane Eyre

Margie wrote: "Fun challenge! I'll try for 15.

Margie, you are an inspiration!! And you have a couple of my favorites (East of Eden and Things Fall Apart) on your list! Good luck!

I am going to try for 3 books.
1. The Woman in the Window
2. Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood
3. James and the Giant Peach

Welcome everyone! The list should be updated to here but let me know if I missed anyone. It's been a very busy weekend for me (I got married yesterday!)

SarahKat wrote: "Welcome everyone! The list should be updated to here but let me know if I missed anyone. It's been a very busy weekend for me (I got married yesterday!)"

Congratulations!

I'll try for 15 on this challenge. I signed up for 10 already on Herstory/History, and since those are unlikely to be part of a series, they should all count here as well. I'm throwing in an extra five for any non-series books that fall outside historical fiction (my fave!) or non-fiction.

Thanks for running this challenge, @SarahKat, and congratulations on your marriage! 🔔👰🔔

INDEPENDENT READING - Monthly Challenge
Duration: 1 July - 31 July 2019
Progress: 15/15 -- COMPLETE 7/21/19
(BEYOND: 22/15 by 7/31/19)

For this challenge, we are giving you a lot of freedom. There are almost no prompts to follow as you are at liberty to choose your own independent reading. The only rule is that the books you read for this challenge should be standalone books that are not part of a series.

✅ What She Left Behind
✅ The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
✅ Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II
✅ The Canterville Ghost
✅ A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
✅ Tuesdays with Morrie: An old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson
✅ An Artist of the Floating World
✅ Persuasion
✅ Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
✅ Where the Crawdads Sing
✅ The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
✅ The Atomic City Girls
✅ The Things We Cannot Say
✅ The Last Lecture
✅ The Alice Network
✅ The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
✅ Paper Wife
✅ Ike and Kay
✅ Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
✅ The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
✅ I Know This Much Is True
✅ Five Feet Apart

Sign me up for 7, please!

SarahKat wrote: "Welcome everyone! The list should be updated to here but let me know if I missed anyone. It's been a very busy weekend for me (I got married yesterday!)"

Congratulations, SarahKat!
Why are you even online here today? *shocked

oshizu wrote: "Why are you even online here today?"

My new husband and I have almost opposite sleep schedules since he works nights, and we aren't "honeymooning" until next week. So I was awake for a while today with some free time!

Oh, this fits nicely with my plan to read whatever I want during the summer, after the heavy, serious topics of some of my Globetrotter books. Sign me up for 5 please.
I will read some of these

1/5 The Power by Naomi Alderman
2/5 The Princess Bride by William Goldman
3/5 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4/5 Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up by Tom Phillips
5/5 How Not to Fall in Love, Actually by Catherine Bennetto
6 Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie

Done

I'm in for 3!

Books read




3/3

SarahKat wrote: "oshizu wrote: "Why are you even online here today?"

My new husband and I have almost opposite sleep schedules since he works nights, and we aren't "honeymooning" until next week. So I was awake for a while today with some free time! ..."

💖🙌😊

SarahKat wrote: "Welcome everyone! The list should be updated to here but let me know if I missed anyone. It's been a very busy weekend for me (I got married yesterday!)"

Congratulations SarahKat!

Congrats SarahKat!

I'd like to sign up for ONE book of my own. Probably my total will be 3 books if I count what I'm reading out loud to my children. ;)

It's high time I got back to reading something I ENJOY and not just kid books!

Congrats SarahKat!Madhuri Shekar

Please sign me up for 5 books. Need to finish Nevernight which won't qualify, and I'll start this challenge next.

Edit: 3rd of August - 5/5 book completed! CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Placeholder:
Book 1: The Humans by Matt Haig
Book 2: The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Book 3: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Book 4: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Book 5: The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker

And also a bonus short one:
Book 6: Evil Eye by

I'll join on this one. I'll try for 5. Thanks.

I'm in for 5
1.) The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

Hi ! I want to join this challenge . I'll go for 5 for now . Thank you! :)))

Kathy wrote: "Margie wrote: "Fun challenge! I'll try for 15.

Margie, you are an inspiration!! And you have a couple of my favorites (East of Eden and Things Fall Apart) on your list! Good luck!"

Thanks, Kathy and welcome to the group! I've been meaning to read both of these books forever so this IS the month. Hope you have a great reading month, too!

In for 7.

1: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
2: Things You Save in a Fire
3: Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
4: Lock Every Door
5: Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors
6: What You Did
7: Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
8: The Outsiders
9: Spoken

I'd like to join the challenge and I'll try for 3. Thanks!

Read:
1. My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel
2. The Night Tiger
3. The Pearl