2025 Reading Challenge discussion

75/100

Currently Reading:


Currently Listening:

I see you've chosen a modest goal of 100 books even though you are highly likely to hit 120 books in 2019!

Here's wishing you come across many, many wonderful books in 2020! And thank you for your active participation in the group's various challenges!

oshizu wrote: "I see you've chosen a modest goal of 100 books even though are highly likely to hit 120 books in 2019!

Here's wishing you come across many, many wonderful books in 2020! And thank you for your act..."

Thanks for the good wishes and thank you guys for having such a great group. I am so glad I found it.

I like choosing attainable goals. Last year I had a hard time believing I could reach 75, so I will go up by steps until I reach a point that I can't pass.

Crystal wrote: "I like choosing attainable goals. Last year I had a hard time believing I could reach 75, so I will go up by steps until I reach a point that I can't pass..."

I very much agree! I'd rather feel satisfied about reaching a somewhat modest goal than stress myself out for months chasing after an unrealistically high goal. We're trying to enjoy ourselves here, am I right?

#1: Hollow Kingdom
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/7/20

Finally finished my first book, off to a rough start this year. I enjoyed this book. I liked how you see what is happening to the humans and how the animals are working around it. Sometimes it felt disorganized and it bothered me, but it was being told by a crow.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #29: Bird on the cover
ATY #1: Title doesn't contain A,T, or Y
Color: Green
Adventurers Club #6: Focuses on animals or is narrated by a non-human, terrestrial animal
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #8: Hippogriff

#2: Passport to Death
Rating: **
Completion Date: 1/7/20

I wasn't really a fan of this book. It was ok, but not my thing. It was a gritty detective novel.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #2: Author's Last name is one syllable
Popsugar #20: A book you picked because the title caught your attention
Clear the Shelves
Serial Reader
Genre Jammin #7: Takes place in another country
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #6: Lang Suir

#3: The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 1/8/20

I really enjoyed this book. I have liked both of the Simone St. James books I have read and am looking forward to reading more. I did dislike the sympathy that the main character showed toward the bad guys at the end.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #51: A book with an "-ing" word in the title
Genre Jammin #9: Takes place in a rural community
January: Sight Read #8: Same Old Song and Dance
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#4: Carrie
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 1/11/20

I have never seen the move, so reading the book first was great. The writing was a little different, with the the past events and the "papers" intermixed.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #41: Written by an author in their 20s
ATY #3: Prompted to read because of something you read in 2019
A-Z: K
Color: Red
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #17: Phoenix

#5: Dad Is Fat
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/12/20

I like Jim Gaffigan and I like that he reads his own books. While I don't have kids, I still enjoyed this book.

Challenges Used For:
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#6: The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Rating: *****
Completion Date: 1/15/20

I really liked how the background narrative and the information about the poisons was put together.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #44: Set in the 20s
ATY #40: Place name in the title
Adventurers Club #4: Non-fiction work of history or mico-history
January: Sight Read #5: All that Jazz
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#7: I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/15/20

At first I just picked this as something to listen to. I originally felt that the sound of one of the author's voice bothered me, but it grew on me. In the end, I found the stories funny and plan on reading more of the series when I have time.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #29: An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book
Color: "Color" in the Title
Serial Reader
Adventurers Club #19: Collection of essays
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#8: If Cats Disappeared from the World
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/16/20

I enjoyed this book. Made you think about if you would choose something, and when enough was enough. I also need to make sure the books I choose to read at work are not sad.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #45: Set in Japan
Kind of a big deal: short
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #4: Enenra

#9 My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/19/20

I enjoyed this, the stories were funny. I will read the others in the series when I can.

Challenges Used For:
Color: Light Blue
Serial Reader
Adventurers Club #8: Animal on the Cover
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
Popsugar #6: A book by an author who has written more than 20 books

#10 The Walking Dead, Book Two
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/19/20

I thought it was ok. It is hard to separate what happens in the t.v. show and what is happening in the book.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #34: Meant to read in 2019
ATY #4: Set in a time or place you would not want to live
A-Z: Z
Color: Black
Serial Reader
January: Marathon
January: Sight Read #6: Has the number 2 in the title
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#11 Dragon Teeth
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 1/25/20

While this was a work of fiction, it had a lot of true facts about the west. It actually made me like the book more.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #9: Book with a map
ATY #6: Mode of transportation on the cover
Clear the Shelves
Color: White
Adventurers Club #9: Focuses on a mineral or rock, or prominently features one on its cover
January: Marathon
January: Sight Read #7: Beat the band
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #20: Shahbaz

#12 The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success
Rating: **
Completion Date: 1/26/20

This was an ok book. It explained how having some of the traits of a psychopath is not a bad thing, as long is it is not too much.

Challenges Used For:
January: Marathon
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#13 Into Bones like Oil
Rating: *
Completion Date: 1/28/20

It was ok, it had makings of a better book, but I don't think it got there. I didn't really connect with the characters.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #9: Book that can be read in a day
Clear the Shelves
Kind of a big deal: Short
January: Marathon

#14 Into the Jungle
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 1/30/20

I don't think it was really a thriller that it said it was, I mean the end was but not much beyond that. It also brings into light the plight of indigenous people and tribes and the fight they have with outsiders.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #21: Published in the month of your birthday
ATY #7: Book set in the southern hemisphere
Clear the Shelves
January: Marathon
1Q: Myths around the world #13: Encantado

#15 The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/1/20

I really thought this was a good book. It has a good mix of going through the history of dinosaurs and stories of what the author has done. I listened to this in audio book, but I would actually read it so you could see the pictures. I am sad now that I missed those, I might go to the library and get the book, so I can see them now.

Challenges Used For:
Adventurers Club #14: about science or by a scientist
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#16 Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 2/1/20

This was pretty good. Some parts were funny.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #17: book with a neurodiverse character
Color: Yellow

#17 The Kingdom
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/3/20

So far I have liked this series. I am looking forward to reading the rest of them.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #24: Subject I know nothing about
ATY #8: Two word title first word "The"
Clear the Shelves
A-Z: Q
Serial Reader
February: The Five Love Languages: #5
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop
1Q: Myths around the world #10: Jumbee

#18 Wicked Saints
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 2/5/20

This was a pretty good book, considering it is the first YA book that I actually planed and finished lately. It did make me wonder how many times you can let yourself be betrayed before you do something.

Challenges Used For:
Serial Reader
TBR
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#19 Skulduggery Pleasant
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/7/20

I enjoyed this more then I thought I would. I overthink when I read sometimes, because I kept think why is a 12 year old running around and why don't their parents know.

Challenges Used For:
A-Z: E
Serial Reader
TBR
February: The Five Love Languages: #3
1Q: Myths around the world #14: Leprechaun

#20 Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Rating: *****
Completion Date: 2/8/20

I thought this was a really good book. It was a good mix of all that was happening during that point and related to the Lusitania. I really like the way Erik Larson writes his books

Challenges Used For:
1Q: Myths around the world #3: Brownie
1Q: Meet us at the Bookshop

#21 Flowers in the Attic
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/11/20

This was a good book. It made me stay up too late to try and finish the book.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #11: originally published in a year that is a prime number
Serial Reader
1Q: Myths around the world #7: Finnish water spirit

#22 The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 2/19/20

Like all of the books I have read from Agatha Christie, it is a good book.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #48: Published in the 20th century
ATY #14: author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers
Color: Pink
Serial Reader
Genre Jammin #1: first book in a series

#23 Sons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 2/21/20

It was a little boring at points, but it has good information. I liked that there was quite a bit of information about crime before Jack the Ripper and how they went about solving them.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #10: book that is between 400-600 pages
A-Z: C
TBR

#24 Lethally Ripe
Rating: **
Completion Date: 2/26/20

Not bad, but not great. Standard cozy mystery, but I felt that it was flat and the characters were not special.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #7: The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed
Clear the Shelves
Color: 5 or more colors
Serial Reader

#25 The Bromance Book Club
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/27/20

This was a light quick read. I use to read a lot of romance, but my tastes have changed and I don't read much any more. But I enjoyed this.

Challenges Use For:
Popsugar #4: Book about a book club
ATY #13: prompt from a previous ATY challenge
Serial Reader

#26 A Short History of Nearly Everything
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 2/28/20

A lot of different information. Sometimes it got a little long, but I think it was an excellent book.

Challenges Use For:
Color: Dark Blue
Kind of a big deal: Long
Adventurers Club #10: features climate change
February: The Five Love Languages #2
ATY #52: A book related to time

#27 Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 3/4/20

A good look at the lives of different females. I liked that the author had stories from women of all different walks of life.

Challenges Use For:
Color: Brown
Adventurers Club #20: non fiction on past or current social issues
March: Earth Laughs in Flowers #4
1Q: Myths around the world #1: Janus

#28 Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
Rating: **
Completion Date: 3/8/20

I really wanted to like the book. I enjoyed the facts, but the organization of the book left a lot to be desired. The author goes back and forth covering themes with tidbits for different people. But it gets confusing with all the different people and time periods. It also felt that some stories were repeated. I also felt that there was modern moralities inserted at points. All said, I will still read Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics , but the stories were still good and interesting information.

Challenges Use For:
Popsugar #30: fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader
Clear the Shelves

#29: A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 3/12/20

This book had great pictures, and had good information. But it was heavy in the birds. I understand this is from what was collected, but i was expecting a wider range of animals.

Challenges Use For:
Kind of a big deal: Short

#30: Hidden Figures
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 3/13/20

This was a good book that brings light to the people that do not get enough credit for major events. I enjoyed the content and delivery of this book.

Challenges Use For:
Adventurers Club #15: has an engineer (any field) as its main character
Popsugar #22: A book about or by a woman in STEM
ATY #46: A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire"

#31: You’ve Got Murder
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 3/15/20

I different mystery book. I was thrown a little bit, because there were no actual chapters.

Challenges Use For:
Popsugar #28: A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character
Serial Reader

#32 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Rating: *****
Completion Date: 3/18/20

I really enjoyed this book. It was a speedy read that was entertaining.

Challenges Use For:
Popsugar #12: A book that passes the Bechdel test
TBR

#33 The Gunslinger
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 3/28/20

Weird and some what difficult to understand. I hope by continuing the series some things will clear up.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #37: A Western
ATY #16: set in a rural or sparsely populated area
A-Z: H
Serial Reader

Crystal you are WAY out in front of your challenge! Great job!

I thought the same thing about The Gunslinger by the way. I've decided to hold off reading the rest of that series until I've read some more of King's books so I can better appreciate some of the references and cameo appearances.

#34 The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 4/4/20

A lot of information that you normally don't get when reading about Jack the Ripper. However I found it kind of boring at parts.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #27: A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins
ATY #15: A book set in a global city
April: Springing into Green #4
2Q: Pinspiration

35 Hunting Prince Dracula
Rating: *****
Completion Date: 4/5/20

I really enjoyed this book. I like the interaction between the main charterers and the mystery.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #35: A book with a three-word title
ATY #18: A book by an author you've only read once before
Serial Reader
A-Z: V
Genre Jammin #15: Includes some form of correspondence
April: Springing into Green #3
2Q: Pinspiration

36 The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 4/11/20

I liked it. Having just read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it was the real life version. I did enjoy the old time Hollywood stories more then the modern, but it was a good mix. I think part of the reason I did like it more then I thought I would, was because not every story was super detailed. Some mystery is good in life.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #24: A book with an emotion in the title
Color: Metallic
2Q: Creativity Island Escape
2Q: Pinspiration
TBR

37 Postern of Fate
Rating: **
Completion Date: 4/16/20

I don't know, I liked the book but I just had issues. I did not think it was as good as other Agatha Christie books. I was confused on the time line, the couple was older and they were in WWII, and they were talking to people who were much older then them (implied 20/30 years older) and I get WWI could before their time. But they made it sound like it was their grandparents time instead of parents. This is a small detail, but it just bothered me and I thought about it the whole book.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #35: A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover
Clear the Shelves
Color: geometric pattern
Serial Reader
Genre Jammin #17: Was originally published in 1980 or earlier.

38 The Escape Room
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 4/19/20

I thought this was an entertaining book. I first I wasn't sure, but before I knew it, it was over. Not completely satisfied by the ending, but still thought it was good.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #13: A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it
ATY #28: A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author
Genre Jammin #8: Takes place, primarily, in a capital city
April: Springing into Green #8

39 Hex
Rating: **
Completion Date: 4/24/20

It was ok. It really felt like you were in the mind of the main character. But that character was disorganized and it was a little too disorganized for me while reading.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #50: A book with a main character in their 20s
A-Z: N
April: Shades of Green
April: Springing into Green #9
2Q: Pinspiration

40 Marked
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 4/29/20

Not a bad book. I did like it, and I will continue with the series.

Challenges Used For:
ATY #12: A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people
Clear the Shelves
A-Z: P
Serial Reader
April: Springing into Green #7

41 The Bone Witch
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 5/6/20

While I don't mind the switching back and forth between the present and the past, I don't like that the present shows things that are not even hinted to in the past yet. Now I have to read the next books if I want to find out. I was going to anyways but that is besides the point.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #32: A book by a WOC
ATY #44: A book related to witches
Clear the Shelves
A-Z: W
Color: Purple
Serial Reader
2Q: Creativity Island Escape

42 The Girl from the Well
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 5/12/20

Different. I enjoyed the ghost story from a different culture.

Challenges Used For:
A-Z: Y
Serial Reader
2Q: Creativity Island Escape

43 I'll Never Tell
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 5/16/20

Good family mystery.

Challenges Used For:
Clear the Shelves
Genre Jammin #19: favorite books in this genre of your friend or family member
May: Come Sail Away With Me #1
May: Shiver Me Timbers #2
2Q: Pinspiration

44 Demons in the Bedroom
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 5/24/20

Challenges Used For:
A-Z: I
Adventurers Club #13

45 Crocodile on the Sandbank
Rating: ****
Completion Date: 5/25/20

A good book. At first I wasn't sure, but buy the end I was invested and enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the next book.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #47: book with more than 20 letters in its title
ATY #5: first book in a series that you have not started
Clear the Shelves
Serial Reader
Adventurers Club #23
2Q: Creativity Island Escape
2Q: Pinspiration

46 A Divided Loyalty
Rating: ***
Completion Date: 5/31/20

I thought this was a good mystery. Even though this is the first book in the series I read, I was still able to enjoy it. I did miss some of they relationships between the charterers, due to not reading in order, but it was manageable. I look forward to going back and reading some of the other books.

Challenges Used For:
Popsugar #1: Published in 2020
ATY #48: Published in 2020
Clear the Shelves
Color: Orange
Serial Reader
2Q: Creativity Island Escape
2Q: Pinspiration