2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Hoping for 20 books/month with summer and Christmas breaks

CURRENT MONTH
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sojourner Truth
Eye-opening


KM Shea
Not quite up to the level of Magic forged, but has potential


Alister McGrath
A good reminder of the importance of the gospel message
⭐⭐⭐

Ian Fleming
Not his best effort

Thomas Erikson
Fairly mainstream advice


Paul Lay
Rather haphazard kept jumping around


Scott Galloway
Not as insightful as Factfulness


Jeremy Clarkson
Half-hearted, didn't even manage to be just the farming columns

⭐⭐
⭐

Rob Moore
Just no


🍎🍒🌸💖🍒🎂🌸💃🎊🍒🎊🍒💃💕🍒🎉 💖💕🍒💖 🎉🍹🌸🍒🎂🌸💖🍒🎂🍒🌸💃🎊🍒

YEAR STATS

Favourites:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 109
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 69
⭐⭐⭐ 23
⭐⭐11
⭐8

FICTION

Contemporary Romance

Joanne Hedland, Victoria Gordon,Stephanie Perkins, Elizabeth O'Roark, Pippa Grant, Clare Kingsley, Albany Walker, Ann Garvin, RS Grey, Rebecca Yarros, Christina Tetreault, Logan Chance, Sariah Wilson

Historical Romance

Lorraine Heath,Eloisa James, Sandra Lake, Georgette Heyer, Melanie Rachel, Alexa Aston, Georgette Heyer, DG Rampton


Paranormal Academies

Jamyn Morse, Michelle Madow,,Yve Vale, RL Caulder, M Sinclair, M Guida, Abigail Grant

Paranormal Romance

Lacey Andersen, Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Armentrout,, Michelle Huaf, Zoe Chant, Mary Ann Weir, SE Smith, Nikita Parmenter, JR Ward, Annie Anderson, Krista Street, Cara Bryant, Heather G Harris, Zoe Chant, CN Crawford, BM Clemton, Skye Wilson, Holly Roberds, Coralee June, Shannon Mayer, Abby McCarthy, KM Shea, Cate C Wells, Kel Carpenter, Amber Natusch, Amanda Pilar

Paranormal Mystery

Melody Rose, Kim McDougall, Annette Marie, Haley Ryan, Heather G Harris, BR Kingsolver, Phoebe Ravencraft, Jodi Taylor, K Pantiken, TJ Klune, Annabel Chase

Sci Fi:

James Crookes, Jodi Taylor

Thriller/Mystery:

Steph Broadribb, Bear Grylls, Agatha Christie, Andrew Mayne

Drama/Literary:

Jill Murphy, Anita Loos, Sylvia Plath, Emma Stonex, Judy Blume, John Grisham, Jack London, Michael Crichton, Anne Rice, Euripedes, RF Kuang, Thomas Keneally, JK Rowling, Ian Fleming, Eric Remarque, Quentin Tarantino

NON FICTION

Memoir

Bear Grylls, Cash Carraway, Matthew McConaughey,Christopher Hitchens, Nicolo Machiavelli, Jonathan Haidt, Ai Weiwei, Bill Bryson, Ashlee Vance, Ben Franklin, Patrick Radden O'Keefe, Jonathan Eig, Ed Catmull, Sue Perkins, Jeremy Clarkson

History:

Simon Targett, David Landes, Janet Sokisc, Laura Spinney, John Pearson, Jared Diamond, James Stalker, Iain Dale, Hourly History, Kai Bird, Maurice Buckmaster, Bart Van Es, JM Roberts, John Winton, Adam Higginbottom, Max Hastings, Harold Schlecter, Anthony Beevor, Simon Thurley, Captivating History, Rutger Bregman, Billy Wellman, Alistair Hazell, Simon Winchester, Snorri Sturluson, Philippa Langley

Lifestyle/Culture:

William Tyndale, Shad Helmsetler, Douglas Murray, Motley Fool, Lee Strobel, Dave Goodart, HB, Mervyn King, Bill Bryson, Nicolas Naseem Talib, James Smith, Ant MIddleton, Johann Hari, Douglas Murray, Charles Spurgeon, Jeremy Ward, Joyce Meyer, Sabrina Ghayour, Pete Greig, Andrew Doyle, Zitala-Sa, Thomas Sowell

Science & Nature

Daniel Levitin, Brian Cox & Jeff Foreshaw, Guy Shrubsole, Randall Munroe, Simon Camm, Travis Elborough, Andrew Steele, Robin Ince, Nate Blakeslee, Ed Yong

JANUARY

Not as good a January as previous years, but still alright

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thomas Sowell
Thoroughly illuminating and thought-provoking


Sariah Wilson
Fun, laugh out loud romance. Absolutely loved Marco.


M Guida
Good start to a new paranormal academy


M Sinclair
A good twist on fated mates. Enjoying the start.


Kel Carpenter, Amber Natusch, Amanda Pilar
Collaboration world with multiple authors - enjoying it so far with a wolf shifter who has their wolf as a familiar and a wellspring fae - nice twists on traditional tropes.


Cate C Wells
If the smut was toned down, might even make my favourite's list. I cried so much during this book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Annabel Chase
Good solid paranormal mystery


TJ Klune
Written for a younger age group that me. Reasonable world-building, could have done with more plot.


Philippa Langley
Simultaneous history of dig & king - thoughtfully written


RL Caulder
Vampires in the same universe as the Storm Dragons from M Sinclair - bit too smutty, but a nice twist on slayers


Jeremy Clarkson
Witty, charming and thought-provoking


Ed Yong
Interesting factoids, but not the over-arching narrative of Other Minds.


Logan Chance
Not really keen on mafia romance, but not a bad entry for the genre.


Sue PErkins
Well written memoir, but I really need to stop trying to read them.


Nate Blakeslee
Wolf vs Hunter - the story of the wolf and fight over legislation. Interesting, but somewhat repetitive - rick McIntyre's books may suit me better


Christina Tetreault
Sweet book, but didn't really stand out and incidentally no billionaires involved!


Sariah Wilson
Standard chick-lit fair. Fun, bright, happy ending.


Snorri Sturluson
Straight recounting of the major political events over a couple of centuries of Vikings. Lots of gore, not much emotion.

⭐⭐⭐

K Pantiken
Murder mystery shifter book, but bit of a soft magic system, won't continue
⭐⭐
⭐

FEBRUARY
Pretty darn good month. KM Shea does it again.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

KM Shea
Another brilliant addition to the Magiford world - love it.


Georgette Heyer
She's such a classic


Coralee June
Impressive new world - real twist on mate bonds


Rebecca Yarros
Complex character and lovely romance


DG Rampton
Fun modern Regency romance


Robin Ince
Ramble thought scientific concepts - Brysonian in its breadth.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jodi Taylor
I feel I should like this series more, but the characters are just annoying


Shannon Mayer
Could be good, not sure where it is going.


Abby McCarthy
Slow, soft magic system, not for me

⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐
⭐

Quentin Tarantino
Poor effort at a novel

MARCH

Really fun month. Enjoyed some fun fluffy books.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

RS Grey
Nice enemies to lovers,rockstar & sports/single dad romances.


Holly Roberds
Fun take on Egyptian mythology - bit quirky, like it.


Annabel Chase
Revving up for the final installment. Love it.


KM Shea
Good conclusion to the elf saga.


Shannon Mayer
Epic dystopia - looking forward to the next one


Andrew Mayne
Great next installment in the UIU

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Skye Wilson
Alright on the fated mates trope, but a bit random in the end


Phoebe Ravencraft
Interesting coming of power late in life. Won't continue, but new genre.

⭐⭐⭐

BM Clemton
Too much sex. Pity 'cause the magic system and battles were quite good.

⭐⭐⭐

CN Crawford
Weird and nonsensical


Simon WInchester
Not the most interesting story in the world, told in a fairly bland manner.


Alistair Hazell
Weird any-British Empire slant within the book e.g. at one point he tries to say that Atlantic slavery was worse than Indian Ocean slavery [to emphasise Europe bad], but then later shows that women were being sold into sexual slavery and castrated men had a 90% fatality rate. Also strangely he seems to mistake a pragmatic approach that says people around the Indian Ocean endorsed slavery and therefore it would be difficult to shift [without serious investment of British lives] to an endorsement of slavery as a system. The ending completely washes over the pain and suffering of the wars of in central Africa which were in large part motivated by the wish to end slavery, as if these were easy commercial ventures.


Zitala-Sa
Should be a really interesting document, but reads like a series of disconnected viginettes.

⭐⭐

Yve Vale
Got worse with each installment - plot disappear and just became an orgy towards the end, so DNF'd

⭐

APRIL

Great month, enjoyable and some thought-provoking ones.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pete Greig
Practical and considered


Heather G Harris
Pretty much my favourite series. Love it.


Zoe Chant
Cute and sweet paranormal shifter romance as always


Sabrina Ghayour
Yum - love the sound of these recipes, might even try them sometime...


Ed Catmull
How to herd creative cats and produce amazing movies.


JK Rowling
Still as magical as the first time


Jonathan Eig
Warts and all biography - eye-opening and opinion changing.


RS Grey
Love the hero and heroine combination. Heart-warming!


Clare Kingsley
A sweet second chance romance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cara Bryant
Could have been great, but magic system is a bit too soft and why oh why are they trying to set up multiple love interests...


Travis Elborough
Little bit superficial, but some interesting factoids.


Simon Camm
Pretty pictures and informative.


Ian Fleming
Pacy thriller, better as a film, but enjoyable as a book.


Heather G Harris
Not her best.


Krista Street
Setting up a series rather than telling a story



Annie Anderson
Quite a good paranormal mystery, but magic system rather soft.


Andrew Doyle
Fairly quotidian


Billy Wellman
Matter of fact chronological history of Iran, not the most engagingly written, but comprehensive.


Patrick Radden O'Keefe
Still not entirely convinced Purdue really did anything wrong, feels like law enforcement should have gone after doctors prescribing pills they knew would go to addicts...


Nikita Parmenter
Magic system way too soft and convenient


Rutger Bregman
Wish fulfilment, but quite readable wish fulfilment

⭐⭐⭐

Andrew Steele
A bit dull


James Crookes
Good concept, poor execution


Ann Garvin
Quite slow


JR Ward
This series has lost it's way, ceased being a romance and tried to become an epic... no thanks...


Jodi Taylor
Meandering - felt a bit pointless


Albany Walker
Assumed this would be paranormal given the set up, but turned out to just be weird and got horribly smutty in the third book.


Eric Remarque
Not as poignant as the poetry or Blackadder


⭐⭐

⭐

MAY

Bit of a Meh month, holiday and work in the way so less interested in books for a bit.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SE Smith
Amazing universe - really unique power sets and swoon-worthy heroes.


BR Kingsolver
Intriguing magic system, good characters


Pippa Grant
Delightfully silly plot.


Elizabeth O'Roark
Interesting hero and I liked the banter.


Captivating History
Eminently readable, easy and helpful


Thomas Keneally
Eye-opening history


Heather G Harris
Innovative and original series continues

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Michelle Madow
Could be good, but probably won't keep going.


Zoe Chant
Refreshing original twist on a spy caper.


Alexa Aston
Some attempt at historical accuracy, but not much.


Ben Franklin
Not comprehensive, but very interesting


Stephanie Perkins
Good first novel


Ashlee Vance
Bit superficial, but she got some scoops

⭐⭐⭐

M Guida
Rather brutalist - not sure why it's so explicit

⭐⭐
⭐

JUNE

Great month with a new favourite world.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Joyce Meyer
Helpful, pragmatic wisdom that I need right now.


Heather G Harris
Love this world


Annette Marie
Fun magic system and liking all the characters


Elizabeth O'Roark
Cute male lead and not a hopeless female lead


Zoe Chant
Ridiculously cute

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Max Hastings
Not enough happened to justify a book really and the lessons learned to avoid catastrophe in Ukraine don't seem to have been learned.


Haley Ryan
Quite a solid story, but won't be continuing


Kim McDougall
Bit slow in the middle and very soft magic system, would have been great to really know the powers that were at play.


Simon Thurley
Comprehensive and very referency, not told as a story


Melanie Rachel
Good alternate version of P&P, but actually I would have preferred it with original characters


Mary Ann Weir
Unnecessary domestic abuse and weirdly inconsistent tone, but surprisingly absorbing story.


Harold Schlecter
Devastating to know what people are capable of.


Anthony Beevor
Should be required reading for anyone talking about the current Ukraine conflict


Jeremy Ward
Helpful for planning

⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐
⭐

RF Kuang
Nonsensical garbage

JULY
No Kindle Unlimited, enjoyable varied month as I finish off the challenges for the year.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Euripedes
Thought-provoking on what matters in life and betrayal of family


CN Crawford
Surprisingly good for a fae academy


Georgette Heyer
Clever short story forms of the longer novels


Charles Spurgeon
Excerpts of very helpful advice


Bill Bryson
The author at his best, humourous, interesting and a fascinating subject.


Randall Munroe
Another fun romp through science.


Ai Weiwei
A brave and inventive man


Michelle Huaf
Surprisingly heart-warming!


Adam Higginbottom
Fascinating account of a near apocalypse


Jonathan Haidt
A lot to think about!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

John Winton
Thorough and very readable biography


Anne Rice
Atmospheric - can see why it was made into a movie


Abigail Grant
INteresting world and good ending.


Agatha Christie
Random set of stories, some good some not so good.


Sandra Lake
Good historical romance among the Vikings


Lorraine Heath
Rather smutty for Victorian romance


Eloisa James
Fun escapism


Nicolo Machiavelli
Interesting to read what others are afraid to say


JM Roberts
Generalist and very readable

⭐⭐⭐

Christopher Hitchens
American politicians are awful, Hitchens understates his case.


Judy Blume
I'm too old to read these now... sad...


Michael Crichton
Definitely better as a film.


Joanne Hedland
Feminist trash - not historical romance


Bart Van Es
The contemporary books like Corrie Ten Boom or Victor Frankl are better

⭐⭐

Jennifer Armentrout
Incredibly slow - how is this so popular?


Jack London
Not as good as American Wolf. Dull


John Grisham
How can a John Grisham book be dull?

⭐

Victoria Gordon
Really bad

AUGUST

Managed to not save down my reviews - goodish month, nothing stands out.

SEPTEMBER
Started to focus on health & weight, less time for reading, but a good set that I did read. forgot to record a load.


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Annabel Chase
Great conclusion to the series


Melody Rose
Reimagined Greek myths in a paranormal academy - great.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐
⭐

OCTOBER
Non Fiction heavy month and quite a good one

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

James Stalker
One of the best biographies I've ever read. Truly eye-opening


Nicolas Naseem Talib
Somewhat wondering, but a very interesting idea at the core that things can gain from disorder and science struggles to understand this.


James Smith
Just the right blend of science, anecdote, commonsense and new ways of looking at common problems.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Guy Shrubsole
Atmospheric memoir of Britain's woods


Ant MIddleton
More barnham statements that his first books, but still clear commonsense


Matthew McConaughey
Different kind of memoir. Interesting but not as in-depth on the parts I wanted to hear about.


Douglas Murray
Depressing, but worth reading

⭐⭐⭐

Johann Hari
Not a self help book and suffers for it.

NOVEMBER

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shad Helmsetler
Great idea for achieving one's goals


William Tyndale
Well said that man!


Douglas Murray
Sadly prescient - seeing him reporting on Gaza and the BBC's apologies in recent days really drives home the point.


Motley Fool
Sensible clear advice


Simon Targett
Eye-opening and narrative busting


David Landes
Standard history of the world, but some interesting insights


Lacey Andersen
Good series - will try more by this author


Jill Murphy
Sweet simple children's book about sticking out in the right way.


Lee Strobel
Well structed evangelism

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Janet Sokisce
Interesting niche story engagingly told


Daniel Levitin
More focus on his topic would have been great


Anita Loos
Fun positivity in a glamorous world. Want to see the movie now


Bear Grylls
The Non Fiction is better than the fiction which was too slow for me. Good common sense in the other two.


Laura Spinney
Amazing how little we have learned

⭐⭐⭐

Dave Goodart
Kind of true and kind of not


HBR
Useful reminders, but fairly banal.


John Pearson
Better as a film


Jared Diamond
Not as insightful as Guns, Germs and Steel


Brian Cox & Jeff Foreshaw
Kind of dull and circular

⭐⭐

Sylvia PLath
Read immediately after Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and yes indeed - feminism is cancer.


Steph Broadribb
Cosy crime is dull


Bit derivative


Cash Carraway
Poor woman

⭐

Emma Stonex
Not even sure what the hell this is, other than pretentious


Bill Bryson
Not a narrative book - was mislead by the cover

DECEMBER

Poor month to finish on, but let's hope for a better 2024

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sojourner Truth
Eye-opening


KM Shea
Not quite up to the level of Magic forged, but has potential


Alister McGrath
A good reminder of the importance of the gospel message
⭐⭐⭐

Ian Fleming
Not his best effort

Thomas Erikson
Fairly mainstream advice


Paul Lay
Rather haphazard kept jumping around


Scott Galloway
Not as insightful as Factfulness


Jeremy Clarkson
Half-hearted, didn't even manage to be just the farming columns

⭐⭐
⭐

Rob Moore
Just no

Good luck!