2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Let’s Spring into Summer with some Fashion! We know some of our members are experiencing winter right now, but don’t worry, you can enjoy snow in style too! Thank you for being such awesome members of this group! We wouldn’t be having this much fun without you all.

Group Read
Every month, our group votes and reads a book together. You don't have to read the book, but we would love it if you did!
Our June theme is Fashion and our group read for this month is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. OvyReadz nominated this book about Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo and her glamorous and scandalous life. Winter will be leading the discussion, so feel free to join in!
You can also vote for our July book; the theme is Independence and nominate a book for August; with the theme Passion.

Challenges
All 15 Yearly Challenges are up and running! Please be sure to sign up for 1 or all of them. Even if you just joined, you can still count all the books you have already read in 2019.

There is still one month left for the second quarter challenges, so feel free to join us! One of our quarterly challenges matches our 2nd Quarter theme, "Books to Stage." It is All The World’s a Stage led by Diane and the second has you stamping your passport by turning pages: Globetotter led by oshizu.

We also have two new monthly challenges for you! We are going to be Reading in Style, a challenge created by oshizu and led by Megan. Our second challenge is called In the Name of Fashion. Daph will be leading this challenge, where you dress up your name with book titles to make it fashionable!

Do you have a great idea for a future monthly or quarterly challenge? Don’t hesitate: please let us know! Most of our challenges are created by members, and we love hearing your creative ideas.

TBR Twins
Share a book with an online friend while knocking off something from your TBR list!
You can sign up to read a book for July’s TBR Twins here, and we'll pair you with someone to read a book with for the month. If you signed up for June, your twins are posted here. Please reach out to your twin and choose a book to read together.

Buddy Reads
Let’s read some books together! Buddy reads are a great way to read and discuss a book together with fellow group members. This month we will have a total of 20 Buddy Reads!

We are starting or continuing the following stand-alone books:
1Q84, A Brief History of Seven Killings, And The Mountains Echoed, Before She Sleeps, Dark Places, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Great Gatsby, The Hazel Wood, The Woman in the Window.

We will start reading the following series:
Broken Earth #1: The Fifth Season, Farseer #1: Assassin’s Apprentice, Fever #1: Darkfever, and Wayfarers #1: The Long Way to a Smal, Angry Planet.

And continue with:
A Song of Ice & Fire #3: A Storm of Swords, Harry Potter #6: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, Mistborn #3: The Hero of Ages, Outlander #6: A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Paper Girls, Vol 5, Poirot #6: The Mystery of the Blue Train, and Red Rising #4: Iron Gold.

If you would like to join any, please follow the link and let your buddies know you will be joining in the read!
Would you like to suggest or join a future Buddy Read? You can sign up on our 2019 Buddy Reads - Sign Up thread.

Finally, welcome to all of our new members! We can't wait to get to know you. Please stop in and introduce yourself and say hello to our new members!


Happy reading, everyone!

Kara, Winter, Ilona, Kristin, Rachael, Blagica, Megan and Oshizu

Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do not like the books you suggest for reading that much? Does that mean I should find another group? Or is anyone out there feeling the same?

Thank you, and keep up reading!

Jay

Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do n..."

I joined this group in January. I felt the same way at first when looking at the Group and Buddy Reads. I also felt that others read a LOT faster than me. But I have not been following many partnered or groups readings. I have been taking part in challenges every month and set my own pace. I like to look at others' monthly and quarterly challenge list to see if there are readers that enjoy the same genres that I like. This group has definitely made me push myself and read outside my comfort zone. I suggest trying the group out for a couple months. I think you'll really enjoy being a part of it.

Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do n..."

I had the same feeling when I first joined the group years ago. I'm not participating in any challenges lately, there was a time I was in TBR twins, but recently I felt that's not working for me either. So, basically I stayed in the group just to see what people are reading and how they feel about this or that book, and with this I'm enlarging my own TBR lists and motivating myself to read more and to read what I do and do not enjoy (aka out of comfort zone). Love how people are participating in the challenges, love the discussions, but I'm a reader, not a comment-er )) Give yourself some time and I'm sure you'll like it here!

Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do n..."

Be sure to check out the Buddy reads section. You can specifically state which books you want to read. Hope you stay with the group. They do amazing things here.

Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do n..."

Hi, Jay! Thank you for your feedback. For the monthly group read, the members of the group actually nominate books to meet the theme, and then the group votes on the monthly group read. For the TBR twins, you and your paired twin choose the book to read for the month. And for the Buddy Reads, you can either join an active Buddy Read or propose a new Buddy Read to see if other members want to join with you. Hopefully this answers your question. What genre do you usually prefer to read? I'm sure that there are others involved in the group that would either share your genre passion or would love to try something new.
Thank you for your participation in the group!

Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I tried but do n..."

I feel the same. Many of the books listed I have already read, and of those left I have little interest. I tend to not read newer books, often mine are 20-50 years old.

Ron wrote: "Jana wrote: "Hey girls,

just a quick question... I have been monitoring your group for a while and like what you do. However, I feel like... you do not read the books I am into that much? And I t..."

I would love to read some backlist, so if you have any older books that you recommend for August's passion prompt for group read, please nominate it. In previous years, we've also had group challenges that encouraged reading older books, so if that's something you're interested in for next year, just let us know. As always, you can join the buddy reads and TBR twins - I'm sure there are other members who would enjoy reading some of the same books you like. Thanks for the comment!