50 Books in 2025

[Raenia]

I didn't see a thread for this year yet, so let's get started!

Total goal for the year is 50. Sub-goals include finishing series, complete works of a few authors, and working on my TBR list.

[grantmeaname]

I am so in! Hoping to hit 52 again this year.

[Zikoris]

And here we are! New year, new 365 book challenge. I'll be here with my piles!

[redhead84]

I'm in again.

[gatortator]

Here!

Goal is complete both my library’s 50 categories, 50 books challenge and popsugar’s reading challenge again

[10dollarsatatime]

I'm in!

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

Here for the party!

[Nederstash]

I'm in! Goal is 100 books tried (=read at least 20 pages to see if I like it)

Currently down 4 books! Granted, they were small books, but I finished them all.

[Avolonte]

I'm in! Goal is 52, not including re-reads.

[StarBright]

Am in as always!

[Sailor Sam]

I define myself as being an avid reader, but the internet finally broke every my ability to concentrate. I’m relearning how to sit and read, and it’s great. I’m in!

[PlanetDee]

I never make it, but I’m here as well! Maybe this is the year I push myself!

[StarBright]

I think I am going to try the Pop Sugar challenge this year.

I started it a few years ago and my first few books were duds, but this year I'll take my time and aim for books that appeal and check boxes, instead of just checking the boxes.

I'm in a genre rut again and need to get out of it.

So here's their 50:
A book about a POC experiencing joy and not trauma
A book you want to read based on the last sentence
A book about space tourism
A book with two or more books on the cover or "book" in the title
A book with a snake on the cover or in the title
A book that fills your favorite prompt from the 2015 PS Reading Challenge
A book about a cult
A book under 250 pages
A book that features a character going through menopause
A book you got for free
A book mentioned in another book
A book about a road trip
A book rated less than three stars on Goodreads
A book about a nontraditional education
A book that an AI chatbot recommends based on your favorite book
A book set in or around a body of water
A book about a run club
A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons
A highly anticipated read of 2025
A book that fills a 2024 prompt you'd like to do over (or try out)
A book where the main character is a politician
A book about soccer
A book that is considered healing fiction
A book with a happily single woman protagonist
A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee
A book where an adult character changes careers
A book set at a luxury resort
A book that features an unlikely friendship
A book about a food truck
A book that reminds you of your childhood
A book where music plays an integral part of the storyline
A book about an overlooked woman in history
A book featuring an activity on your bucket list
A book written by an author who is neurodivergent
A book centering LGBTQ+ characters that isn't about coming out
A book with silver on the cover or in the title
Two books with the same title (1)
Two books with the same title (2)
A classic you've never read
A book about chosen family
A book by the oldest author in your TBR pile
A book with a title that starts with the letter Y
A book that includes a nonverbal character
A book you have always avoided reading
A book with a left-handed character
A book where nature is the antagonist
A book of interconnected short stories
A book that features a married couple who don't live together
A dystopian book with a happy ending
A book that features a character with chronic pain

[Serendip]

@StarBright --this is a great list. I might play along as well!

[Magenta_screwdriver]

Count me in! I want to read more in 2025 so 50 books seems doable for me.

[crocheted_stache]

I'm not even aiming for 50, because I tend to read books that take longer than a week, even when I keep at them. But more would be nice, so I'll throw in my effort here. I polished one off last night and started the next in earnest this morning.

• How the World Ran Out of Everything (about the conditions and policies that led to the supply chain kablooie in 2021-2022)

[Nederstash]

I define myself as being an avid reader, but the internet finally broke every my ability to concentrate. I’m relearning how to sit and read, and it’s great. I’m in!

Oh I recognize this! Social media absolutely shot my attention span to smithereens. I'm retraining by reading short novels first, like less than a hundred pages. Just finished the 5th since Jan 1st, and I feel myself getting back some focus!

[nessness]

I'm in!

1. Half of What You Hear by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

[Serendip]

Started off with a few great reads so far. Will see how many of the Pop Sugar challenge categories I cover this year *creatively interpreted*

1) Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations With a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley (essays)  A book about a nontraditional education

2) Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (fiction) A book under 250 pages

3) Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee

[Nederstash]

6 books down! Did not finish the 6th, the protagonist was insufferable with no redeeming qualities. So, after 30 pages, I closed the book and immediately took it to a little free library. Still count for the total number of books, since I'm also reading just to clear my shelves.
 
Starting Animal Farm next, should be a quick and fun read! Way ahead of schedule for the year, figured I'd try to knock 10 short ones out in the first week and then get into longer books.

[Linea_Norway]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
Wow, what a great story. Next up, Metro 2034.

[YellowCat]

1. Dawn on a Distant Shore, Sara Donati
2. The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods
3. There's Something About Mira, Sonali Dev

[Linea_Norway]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

2. Metro 2034, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

[Peony2019]

I'm in.

1. The Choice - Edith Eger - Holocaust survivor and psychologist shares her story and how she dealt with her PTSD.  Weaves stories of some of her patients into the book and highlights how the techniques she used to help them, also helped her heal across many domains. 

[erp]

I'm in too!

1. The Unaccounability Machine - Dan Davies

[Sailor Sam]

1. The life impossible - Matt Haig

[YellowCat]

1. Dawn on a Distant Shore, Sara Donati
2. The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods
3. There's Something About Mira, Sonali Dev
4. Kaleidoscope, Danielle Steele
5. Even Though I Knew the End, C. L. Polk

[Zikoris]

This year I have two official goals:

1. Read 365 books.
2. Read 50 nonfiction books (included in the above).

And a few unofficial goals that are more about the general direction I want to go versus a fixed number:

3. Stay on top of new releases by authors I follow, and also generally popular new releases for my genres.
4. Read only highly relevant books while travelling.
5. Read or DNF all the super-popular books that have slipped through the cracks over the years, whether that's Hunger Games or classics.
6. Read through all the r/fantasy top picks lists for categories that interest me. Mainly the top novels, top standalones, and top self-published books to start, but I might give top female authors and top non-western fantasy a shot as well. There's a ton of overlap between lists obviously. Last year I read the novellas but ran out of time to read other stuff.

[Splashncash]

I joined the thread last year and then didn’t record a single book I read.  So two of my resolutions are to keep track of my reads here and read at least 75 books.

1.  The Invisible Husband of Frick Island. Colleen Oakley
2.  The Lost Girls of Paris.  Pam Jenoff
3.  Rent to Be. Sonia Hartl
4.  London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency, a Memoir. Kate MacDougall

[Zikoris]

Alright, here we go with the first 20, favourites marked:

1. The Birds by Aristophanes
2. The Clouds by Aristophanes
3. Assembly of Women by Aristophanes
4. The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean's Most Fearsome Predators by John Long

5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The story itself was excellent and it would be an instant all-time hit if the author didn't constantly intersperse the story with 100+ page long tangents and battles, French history, architecture, and the Parisian sewer system.

6. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
7. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
8. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
9. Knights by Aristophanes
10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
11. Peace by Aristophanes
12. Plutus by Aristophanes
13. Thesmophoriazusae by Aristophanes

14. The Wasps by Aristophanes
This was just so funny, particularly the part where the guy tries to escape out the chimney by claiming he's smoke, and the dog being put on trial for stealing cheese.

15. The Witched by Roald Dahl
16. After Life by Gayle Forman
17. Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton
18. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
19. The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein (this was a wild ride)
20. My Inventions by Nikola Tesla

My goals are off to a good start:

1. 365 Book Challenge: 20/365
2. Nonfiction Challenge: 4/50

[nessness]

3. Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

4. The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

[YellowCat]

1. Dawn on a Distant Shore, Sara Donati
2. The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods
3. There's Something About Mira, Sonali Dev
4. Kaleidoscope, Danielle Steele
5. Even Though I Knew the End, C. L. Polk
6. The Library Thief, Kuchenga Shenje

[Nederstash]

Might be smart to record the books I've read:

1. De blauwe boekanier by Tonke Dragt
2. Mijn leven's liederen by Remco Campert
3. Het onbegonnen feest by Els Pelgrom
4. Verlies by Nicci French
5. Onmacht by Charles den Tex
6. Blauwe maandagen by Arnon Grunberg (DNF, absolute drivel)
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
8. De zee een lied by J. Slauerhoff
9. Het zingend hart by Gerard Reve
10. Oeroeg by Hella Haasse
11. Zie me staan by Trea van der Vliet
12. The mad ship by Robin Hobb (finally got round to continuing this series!! I absolutely adore it)

[Serendip]

1) Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations With a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley (essays)  A book about a nontraditional education
2) Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (fiction) A book under 250 pages
3) Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee
..
4) Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay by Merilyn Simonds A book about an overlooked woman in history
5) Conversations on Love: Lovers Strangers Parents Friends Beginnings Endings by Natasha Lunn A book of interconnected short stories--a stretch but I'm okay with that.
6) Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor (bookclub) A book where the main character is a politician


(*Popsugar reading challenge )

[honigvod]

Since I am retiring at the end of this month I might as well. I am in!

1: I have a backlog of Audiobooks so they are gonna be part of my list when I go for walks. 
2: For physical books, other than some study here and there back in school, I never did really read most of the classics and the books that inspired a lot of the more modern scifi, fantasy, and adventure. I want to start this year with a few older 'novels' (Quixote, Crusoe, Gulliver) and possibly earlier stuff (Mythology, Epics, Shakespeare, etc) before diving into authors of the 1800s: Burney, Austen, Scott, Poe, Hugo, Dumas, Bronte, Shelley, Dickens, Verne, Stevenson, Doyle, Wells, among others. I think I will hit 50 books before I get to 1900, heh.

[Zikoris]

2: For physical books, other than some study here and there back in school, I never did really read most of the classics and the books that inspired a lot of the more modern scifi, fantasy, and adventure. I want to start this year with a few older 'novels' (Quixote, Crusoe, Gulliver) and possibly earlier stuff (Mythology, Epics, Shakespeare, etc) before diving into authors of the 1800s: Burney, Austen, Scott, Poe, Hugo, Dumas, Bronte, Shelley, Dickens, Verne, Stevenson, Doyle, Wells, among others. I think I will hit 50 books before I get to 1900, heh.

Have you heard of the Harvard Classics? I read them last year and it went really far in correcting my "educational deficiencies". Even if you don't read every single book in them, it's a really good collection of almost 200 classics, including most of the names on your list. It's all public domain, so you can get the entire thing as one Kindle or Kobo file for a buck or two.

[Linea_Norway]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
2. Metro 2034, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

Did not finish: Meridian Mysteriet, by Jørgen Klafstad.

I am not sure what this is. The writer has a Norwegian name and the book does not have a translater mentioned. Still, I get the impression that the book is a bad translation by a computer instead of by a person. Maybe it is written by an early version of Chat GPT? We know that this AI used to be much better in English than in Norwegian.
Also, the story line so far (I read to page 66 or so) is too fast and too unlikely. I got annoyed by something new in each chapter, just by the way the story was built up.

[Nederstash]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
2. Metro 2034, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

Did not finish: Meridian Mysteriet, by Jørgen Klafstad.

I am not sure what this is. The writer has a Norwegian name and the book does not have a translater mentioned. Still, I get the impression that the book is a bad translation by a computer instead of by a person. Maybe it is written by an early version of Chat GPT? We know that this AI used to be much better in English than in Norwegian.
Also, the story line so far (I read to page 66 or so) is too fast and too unlikely. I got annoyed by something new in each chapter, just by the way the story was built up.

The author might have just pulled it through Google Translate (or Deepl or AI) himself...

[Raenia]

1	Make, Sew and Mend: Traditional Techniques to Sustainably Maintain and Refashion Your Clothes	Bernadette Banner	Own	Educational	1/1/2025	Nonfiction - Home and Garden
2	Blade of Dreams	Daniel Abraham	Library	Sequel	1/3/2025	Fiction - Fantasy
3	Red Rising	Pierce Brown	Library	TBR List	1/9/2025	Fiction - Science Fiction
4	Rhythm of War	Brandon Sanderson	Own	Reread	1/9/2025	Fiction - Fantasy
5	House of Flame and Shadow	Sarah J Maas	Library	Sequel	1/16/2025	Fiction - Fantasy

Sequels: 2
TBR: 1
Complete Works: 0

[erp]

1. Thu Unaccountability Machine - Dan Davies
2. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

[honigvod]

Have you heard of the Harvard Classics? I read them last year and it went really far in correcting my "educational deficiencies". Even if you don't read every single book in them, it's a really good collection of almost 200 classics, including most of the names on your list. It's all public domain, so you can get the entire thing as one Kindle or Kobo file for a buck or two.

Ooh, no I haven't! Looking it up now and it seems to be a fairly complete omnibus of important works/authors once the fiction supplement is added. I can see it missing some things that interest me since it is more of a 'sample' and some authors are more prolific, but a good place to start. I'll grab the cheap kindle version for travel reading if nothing else. Thanks!

[Zikoris]

Have you heard of the Harvard Classics? I read them last year and it went really far in correcting my "educational deficiencies". Even if you don't read every single book in them, it's a really good collection of almost 200 classics, including most of the names on your list. It's all public domain, so you can get the entire thing as one Kindle or Kobo file for a buck or two.

Ooh, no I haven't! Looking it up now and it seems to be a fairly complete omnibus of important works/authors once the fiction supplement is added. I can see it missing some things that interest me since it is more of a 'sample' and some authors are more prolific, but a good place to start. I'll grab the cheap kindle version for travel reading if nothing else. Thanks!

I found it was a fantastic thing to have kicking around through the year any time I had a gap between books. For probably the only time in my life, I went the entire year without ever running out of books and having to actively seek out new books to read.

[Linea_Norway]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
2. Metro 2034, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

3. Drømmer av bronse (Dreams of bronze), by Camilla Läckberg.

[Sailor Sam]

1. The life impossible - Matt Haig
2. Kill the Farm Boy (DNF) - Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne.

Kill the Farm Boy is purported to be funny. It was not at all funny, and the slog became too tedious. I'm new to just not finishing a book, and it feels freeing in equal amounts as it fills me with guilt.

[PlanetDee]

1. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk

[YellowCat]

1. Dawn on a Distant Shore, Sara Donati
2. The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods
3. There's Something About Mira, Sonali Dev
4. Kaleidoscope, Danielle Steele
5. Even Though I Knew the End, C. L. Polk
6. The Library Thief, Kuchenga Shenje
7.Not the Duke's Darling, Elizabeth Hoyt

[grantmeaname]

1. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk

I'm hoping to read this later this year - how did you like it?

[Linea_Norway]

1. Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
2. Metro 2034, by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
3. Drømmer av bronse (Dreams of bronze), by Camilla Läckberg.

4. Det Kinesiske Rommet (The Chinese Room), by Jan Grue.
An interesting book.

[Splashncash]

1.  The Invisible Husband of Frick Island. Colleen Oakley
2.  The Lost Girls of Paris.  Pam Jenoff
3.  Rent to Be. Sonia Hartl
4.  London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency, a Memoir. Kate MacDougall

5.  The Lost Husband.  Katherine Center
6.  Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord.  Celeste Connally
7.  The Marlow Murder Club. Robert Thorogood

On a run of meh books but I haven't really DNFed any yet so that's progress.

[Splashncash]

15. The Witched by Roald Dahl

Do you mean The Witches?  Did you see either movie version of the book?