2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I was conservative when I set my reading challenge at the beginning of the year: 26 books, which works out to a book every two weeks.

Last year and the year before I set higher goals and found myself feeling pressured to get through books. When i found myself falling behind I started choosing "quick reads" in an effort to make up for it.

This year I decided to adjust my challenge and take some of the pressure off. This will give me a chance to get to some of the bigger books on my "to read" list. In addition to setting a number of books to read, I decided to make an effort to read a balance of fiction and non-fiction. I've also recently dusted off my Sony Reader which I did not use for a long while. It's now loaded with 108 books so part of my challenge is to read both ebooks and paper books.

Here is what I've read so far this year (20/26):
1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Loved It!)

2. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Terrible Book)

3. Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha by Swami Satyananda Saraswati (A great reference book for the practice of Hatha Yoga)

4. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (I really enjoyed this book)

5. The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the biology of Strength, and the Privilege of time by Cameron Diaz (Interesting with some good insights)

6. Becoming by Michelle Obama (Very good!)

7. Crime Seen: From Patrol Cop to Profiler, My Stories from behind the Yellow tape by Kate Lines (Very Interesting and Easy to read)

8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Very Good)

9. Educated by Tara Westover (Interesting, but i did not find it as good as all the hype surrounding it)

10 Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health and Happiness by Esther and Jerry Hicks (Some good insights, but not the best book I've read on the LOA)

11. Healing Your Life: Lessons on the path of Ayurveda by Dr. Marc Halpern (Loved it! I picked this up at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas. I was taking the Yoga Nidra course with Dr. Marc Halpern and got him to sign my copy.)

12. Spiritual Grafitti by Jeff Brown (A great collection of insights)

13. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Loved It!)

14. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson (I picked this up in the little library we have in the building I live in. Not sure why this book is so popular. Quick Read.)

15. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (Loved It!)

16. The Devil In the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. (Loved It! I had this on my shelf for a very long time. So glad I finally got around to reading it. Very Interesting.)

17. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Light and entertaining. Good summer read. I read this one on my Sony Reader)

18. The Villa by Nora Roberts (This was my first Nora Roberts book! It reads like a soap opera. Good summer read.)

19. Germination by Jamie Thornton (This was a free ebook i downloaded. It's a short prequel to a series. Interesting take on a zombie apocalypse)

20. Contamination by Jamie Thornton (This was a free ebook I downloaded. A quick summer read.)

And that brings me up to date on what I've been reading this year. I'll post updates as I finish books going forward.

Book # 21/26
Cataract City by Craig Davidson
This is one of many books I had on my shelf waiting to be read for a long time. My mom is also an avid reader and she gives me a lot of books so I always have plenty of books “TBR”.
This is a very gritty story about 2 boys that grow up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. There’s prison, wrestling, greyhound racing, wilderness survival, bare knuckle fighting, dog fighting, and shattered dreams. The writing is very descriptive and really draws you into the story and the lives of the 2 main characters: Duncan and Owen.
I can always count on my mom to give me interesting books to read! I definitely recommend this one.

Wow, you're doing so well! I like that you are adjusting your challenge - it does take pressure off and hopefully reading remains enjoyable for you.

Rachael wrote: "Wow, you're doing so well! I like that you are adjusting your challenge - it does take pressure off and hopefully reading remains enjoyable for you."

Thanks for your kind note, Rachael! Setting a more conservative goal definitely made a difference to my reading experience this year. I'll most likely exceed it by the end of summer.

Book 22/26
Be Here Now by Ram Dass
After all these years I still love this book. I’ve read it a few times and I always get something out of it.

23/26
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Watching Hellraiser as a kid with my eldest brother terrified me so I stayed away from Clive Barker's books until now.
I do remember my Mom reading quite a few of his books back in the day and this one really stuck in my mind so I finally picked up a copy and it's a really good story! It's more than 700 pages but it really keeps your interest from start to finish. I'll definitely read more of Barker's work.

24/26
Awesome thrift store find: Vintage copy of Stephen King’s "Carrie".
I discovered Stephen King when I was around 12 years old and read a lot of his books through my teen years, so seeing the familiar cover made me nostalgic and I grabbed it for $1.99.
It’s always interesting to reread books as an adult and see if they still hold up. SK is known for writing very long books and this is his shortest novel. It’s also his first published novel.
Some of the writing seems a bit clumsy now compared to his later work, but any of his "Constant Readers" will recognize some of his stylistic trademarks: quoting song lyrics, telling the story from multiple POV’s, and his signature sentences that have fragments of the character’s inner dialogue included in parenthesis.
Now I want to continue reading his books in chronological order which is a huge endeavour considering the number of books he’s published since Carrie. I also have a huge stack of other books I want to read so this will take a while.
So, I’m now looking for vintage copies of Salem’s Lot and The Shining. If any of you have these titles on your shelves and are willing to part with them, let me know!

25/26
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
I liked this book, but didn't love it.

26/26
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
This was my first Dean Kooontz book and I gave it 3 stars. It was light and entertaining, but the writing seems to lack something. I haven't decided if I'll read the sequel. I really enjoyed the movie adaptation.
Also, I noticed that goodreads didn't count a couple of the books I actually read towards my reading challenge for some reason.

Book 27: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I recently loaded over 100 books onto my ereader and this was one of them. I really enjoyed this story and breezed through it quickly. There was a lot of hype about this book, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m doing a reread of all Stephen King’s work in chronological order.
I read most of his early work during my tween and teen years (late 80’s and 90’s) and I’m happy to find that both Carrie and ‘Salem’s Lot have stood the test of time for me. Just finished ‘Salem’s lot this evening and it was just as good as I remembered it.
I’m excited to revisit The Shining next!