2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Hi everyone!

Time to nominate books for January! The theme is Cozy.

~Please remember to state a connection to the theme when you nominate.

~Books we have read less than three years ago are not eligible. To see which books are not eligible, see this google sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

~ Each person can nominate 1 book.

~ Book must be available both as a physical copy and as an ebook.

~ Authors: Please do not nominate your own book.

~ Please do not nominate books that are part of a series, unless it is the first book.

~ You can second someone else's nomination, but that will count as your nomination.


This thread will be closed by November 25th, and we will choose ten books for the poll. If there are more than ten books nominated, we will choose "seconded" books first. If there is still a tie to get into the top ten, we'll go back to the Goodreads average rating to see which is highest.

When I think of "cozy", I think of reading with my grandmother (or my mother) and my sister, during my childhood, so I propose Perrault's fairy tales! Lots of well known tales, like "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Blue Beard". There are lots of editions, for exemple, the Oxford World Classics. There is a free version of Perrault's fairy tales on Project Gutenberg.

Cozy is a hard one for me, but The Road to Farringale is what I think of. This is 100% a cozy fantasy/british-like adventure read. After every adventure, the character sits in a big, cozy chair and drinks a cup of hot chocolate. Tell me that isn't the epitome of cozy. =D

I nominate . Fredrik Backman's novel is a heartwarming, uplifting story centered around a grumpy yet lovable protagonist, Ove. The story leaves you with a warm hug typical of the cozy genre.

I'd like to nominate The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst.
From the synopsis: Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.
And the cover coudn't be more beautiful!

Does it get any cozier than a book about a talking cat who is passionate about books?! I nominate The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa, published in English 2021 (original Japanese release 2017).



Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he has inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. However, one day, a talking cat named Tiger appears and asks Rintaro to save books with him. Of course, "ask" is putting it politely -- Tiger is demanding Rintaro's help. The world is full of lonely books, left unread and unloved, and only Tiger and Rintaro can liberate them from their neglectful owners. And so, the odd couple begin an amazing journey, entering different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, Tiger and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to rot on his bookshelf, a book torturer who cuts books to clips to help people read as fast as they can, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. And then, the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest readers would dare enter... Books, cats, first love, fantasy -- THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS is a story for those who know books are so much more than words on paper.

I love that so many of us think about sweet fantasy stories when wanting to read something cozy!
I'd like to nominate I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Unicorn comes a new novel with equal amounts of power and whimsy in which a loveable cast of characters trapped within their roles of dragon hunter, princess, and more must come together to take their fates into their own hands."

Because nothing feels quite as cozy to me as reading an author again as an adult that wrote an OG "cozy fantasy" book from your childhood.

I second Jordan Wynter’s choice!

Oh love this theme. I nominate The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman which is listed as a cozy mystery on the main page of the book profile.

I second “The Cat Who Saved Books”

Carmen wrote: "I'd like to nominate The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst.
From the synopsis: Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic,..."

I'll second Carmen's nomination!

I second I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons.

The Story Collector Evie Woods

I nominate The Story Collector by Evie Woods. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&...
I was looking for cozy books, read the synopsis and thought this sounds fun.

It’s a new magical dual timeline romance novel from the author of the smash hit bestseller “The Lost Bookshop.” It just came out this past August, and it only costs $0.99 on Amazon as an ebook. I found the Library app Boundless has the ebook.

Here’s the synopsis-
In a quiet village in Ireland, a mysterious local myth is about to change everything…

One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life.

In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets – secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.

So many to choose from with a theme like this it’s hard to choose one 😅

I nominate Little Women - I haven't read the book yet- but at least in the movie their familial ties and the support they give each other really fits the Cozy theme in my eyes.

I would like to nominate Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
A year of reading from home.
It’s a memoir one that I think is a comforting, pleasant read.

Lina wrote: "I nominate Little Women - I haven't read the book yet- but at least in the movie their familial ties and the support they give each other really fits the Cozy theme in my eyes."

The anime is so much closer to the books than any movie.

M wrote: "I love that so many of us think about sweet fantasy stories when wanting to read something cozy!
I'd like to nominate I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

I'd like to nominate The Bookshop on the Corner - by Jenny Colgan



I would call ANY Book about Books as Cozy because Books about books are my go-to "therapy" session to help me recover from whatever upset me that day. I personally would have loved to have been involved in the book industry when I was younger, and since that has not been possible. I love to read about it instead. That for me is Cozy.

Book Synopsis says this - The Bookshop on the Corner is a wonderfully cozy book about books. Set in a sweet little Scottish town you’ll soon want to move to, Nina is a literary matchmaker: a librarian with a knack for finding the perfect book for her readers. However, after losing the job she loves, Nina must make a new life for herself. Determined and ready for a new start, Nina moves to a sleepy village where she buys a van and transforms it into a mobile bookshop. As she builds her business and gets to know the neighborhood, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home.

https://tolstoytherapy.com/best-cozy-...

M wrote: "I love that so many of us think about sweet fantasy stories when wanting to read something cozy!
I'd like to nominate I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by [author:Peter S. Beagle|10676..."

I will also second this!

D.L. wrote: "Oh love this theme. I nominate The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman which is listed as a cozy mystery on the main page of the book profile."

I'll second D.L.'s nomination of The Thursday Murder Club.

I nominate the first book in Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series, The Sunday Philosophy Club!

Before the deadline passes me by (as it has done the past two months 😅), I would like to nominate Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance.

It's whimsical, and magical and a personal favorite that I don't think enough people have read so I will keep on recommending it forever.

The synopsis starts with the following sentence:

"Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was.

I nominate The Midnight Library by Matt Haig which is an introspective and thought provoking book :)

Can’t decide on anything else so I suppose I’m going with an old friend, my ultimate cozy: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Also closing nominations.

Poll is up! Go vote for our first 2025 read!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...