2025 Reading Challenge discussion

My goal for this year is currently 42 books in 2020. For those curious about my side goals for the year, I’ve given this some thought and I’ve given up page count goals. I can never pull them off. So with that in mind, I'm keeping the 42 books goal and adding the following:

12 books by Philip K Dick.

More classics ("more" is vague, but in this case I just mean that I want more classics read before the end of the year. Make an active attempt to clear classics off my to read list)

More horror (Perhaps horror classics, thus knocking out 2 at once)

While I always read a few Japanese novels every year, I want to read some other translated works... at least 4 translations to English that are not Japanese (while not required, if they are classics or horror, all the better!)

Finally at least one French novel... because as much as I'm ashamed to admit this, I've never read any French literature.

With all that said, let's start this!

January

1. The Crack in Space by Philip K. Dick - 2/5 stars
2. The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup - 4/5 stars
3. The Story of Hong Gildong by Anonymous - 4/5 stars
4. Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw - 4/5 stars
5. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie - 4/5 stars

February

6. The Stranger by Albert Camus - 5/5 stars
7. Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani - 4/5 stars
8. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - 4/5 stars
9. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai - 4/5 stars

March

10. The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates - 3/5 stars

April

11. Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell by Paul Kane - 3/5 stars
12. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand - 1/5 stars
13. The Grip of It by Jac Jemc - 3/5 stars

May

14. The Pack by David Fisher - 1/5 stars
15. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - 5/5 stars
16. The Boy in the Earth by Fuminori Nakamura - 3/5 stars
17. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - 4/5 stars
18. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle - 4/5 stars
19. Larry by Adam Millard - 4/5 stars

June

20. Rogomelec by Leonor Fini - 3/5 stars
21. Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett - 2/5 stars
22. Apeshit by Carlton Mellick III - 1/5 stars
23. Vulcan's Hammer by Philip K. Dick - 2/5 stars
24. The Magpie Coffin by Wile E. Young - 4/5 stars
25. Knight of the Black Rose by James Lowder - 3/5 stars

July

26. The Quiet American by Graham Greene - 5/5 stars
27. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - 3/5 stars
28. The Man Who Japed by Philip K. Dick - 3/5 stars

August

Nothing

September

Nothing.

October

29. Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones - 1/5 stars

November

30. Vicious by V.E. Schwab - 4/5 stars
31. The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher - 4/5 stars
32. Dust by Chris Miller - 3/5 stars
33. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo - 5/5 stars
34. The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman - 4/5 stars
35. Halloween Fiend by C.V. Hunt - 2/5 stars

December

36. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl by Tomihiko Morimi - 4/5 stars
37. Shield of Straw by Kazuhiro Kiuchi - 3/5 stars
38. The Key by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki - 3/5 stars
39. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - 1/5 stars
40. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo - 5/5 stars
41. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells - 4/5 stars
42. ART by Matt Shaw and Michael Bray - 3/5 stars
43. Extreme Horror by Matt Shaw - 3/5 stars
44. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - 2/5 stars
45. The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines - 4/5 stars
46. Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda - 5/5 stars

Non-English Language book count:
Danish - 1
French - 2
Japanese - 7
Korean - 1

This is my favorite quote of all time! I hope it brings you luck with your reading in 2020!

Good luck with the goal~!
(„• ֊ •„)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ I'm also hoping to read more classic horror hahha so hopefully we achieve it~~~

Blagica wrote: "This is my favorite quote of all time! I hope it brings you luck with your reading in 2020!
"

Thank you. :)

Good luck with your reading goals this year, Tim!

Lisa wrote: "Good luck with your reading goals this year, Tim!"

Thank you! Just finished the second book and it at least hit one of my side goals. :)

Another update. Currently at 5 books now, having done two foreign language novels and two books that could be considered classics (one published in the 1930s and the other with a date unknown but estimated to be sometime in the 17th century).

Good luck, Tim!

I recommend The Three Musketeers for a French novel. Of course, you may be thinking of something more current and written in French 😎

Sunny wrote: "Good luck, Tim!

I recommend The Three Musketeers for a French novel. Of course, you may be thinking of something more current and written in French 😎"
Thank you for the suggestion! I already read The Stranger for my French book, but that does not mean that there can't be a second one. :)

Just added a huge update as I realized I hadn't done so since February. March was a disappointing month with only one book, but hopefully that won't happen again this year.

After missing both August and September (my life took a weird turn and no reading at all), I've finally come back and updated with quite a few new books read this month.