2025 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE: Yearly Challenges
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Recommended By Reading Challengers - 2014
@Chloe I agree people seemed to either love it or hate it but I think the worst thing any one can do is compare it to HP in any way. I loved the Potter books and have read them all several times but that is a story and an idea that cannot be replicated and I think it is very unfair to an author to compare other work to such a sensation as HP. In relation to The Casual Vacancy
On the positive side: the writing was beautiful, the description of the town and its residents was in depth and made me feel like I really knew Pagford and JK didn't shy away from the less appealing side of human nature using vindictiveness, revenge, betrayal, selfishness, shame and ignorance as motivators for the behaviour of the characters which I found incredibly insightful.
On the negative side: as a person (and this is just a personal choice) I enjoy plot driven books more than character driven books and for me the plot wasn't engaging enough for me to really enjoy the book, having said that the last 10% was very good. The book took me far longer to read than a book its size usually does and I had this very strange occurrence where although I enjoyed the book while I was reading it once I put it down I wasn't eager to get back to it.
So with all that said I personally gave The Casual Vacancy a respectable 3 stars.
I've been doing challenge sort of on my own and so far I've finished three. Thought it was about time I joined this challenge 'officially' lol :) There are 21 books on it that I'd like to read and I'm just going to post them all here, but I'll set my goal to:
I've been really stressed, so I downgraded my goal from 12 to 8, hope that's ok!
Goal: 8/8
COMPLETE!! (:
1. 1984
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
4. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
5. The Great Gatsby
6. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
7. Me Before You
8. The Art of Racing in the Rain
9. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore
10. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
11. Animal Farm by George Orwell
12. Wool (#1)
13. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
14. Life of Pi
15. Catch-22
16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
17. To Kill a Mockingbird
18. Wuthering Heights
19. Candide by Voltaire
20. Fall of Giants
21. I Am Number Four
Finished
,I really enjoy this book!7/10 Completed
What I read so far
5★
4★
4★
5★
5★
5★
5★
Chloé wrote: "Finished ,I really enjoy this book!7/10 Completed
What I read so far
5★ 4★..."Wow, that looks like some good reading, Chloé!! I've seen good things about Tell the Wolves I'm Home and am thinking about reading it myself (sometime!) and I intend to read The Cuckoo's Calling later this year... And I agree - I've enjoyed both The Help and And the Mountains Echoed.
Hope the rest of the year's reading is as good for you!
@Kathryn you should read Tell the Wolves I'm Home, I think it's my favourite book so far this year. It's really sad though, so you need to be in the mood. The Cuckoo's Calling is nice, I'll definitely read the sequels. It's a change from what I usually read. I read a bit of anything, but I don't think I read much mystery/crime novel in years, the only one coming to my mind is the Da Vinci Code.
Could I be added to the challenge this late ? I wanted to try doing a yearly challenge in the group and just looked at the list . There are several books I haven't read that I own, so would like to try to get them read this year . ( Trying not to BUY any more books this year and read what I have )
If we are supposed to list our goal, I'll just say 5.
Thank you -
If we are supposed to list our goal, I'll just say 5.
Thank you -
Just finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay making me 7/10 and I've updated my original list
4/12 now, just finished Animal Farm by George Orwell. Updated my list above as well :)
Congratulations on completing your challenge Maiko!Welcome Aleta and Julie (:
I've updated everyone to this point.
This is a great non-fiction book. It held my interest throughout.
I've read 3/10.
Almost done Erika! Glad you enjoyed your read Lorelei (:
Finished Beauty Queens. It wasn't on my original list for this challenge, I actually randomize it for the randomizer challenge, but I realized it was listed here. It was hilarious, the audiobooks voices was great!8/13 Completed
What I read so far
5★
4★
4★
5★
5★
5★
5★
4★
3/10 finished: Mille splendidi soli by Khaled Hosseini (Italian version of A Thousand Splendid Suns).
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison - 20 Apr 2014, 3/5The Princess Bride by William Goldman - 22 Apr 2014, 4/5
5/10 finished.
Almost done Chloe!Updated you and Marina and Eggp.
Adriana wrote: "Almost done Chloe!Updated you and Marina and Eggp."
I think I'll up it at 13. I read 2-3 books that wasn't planned so if I still read my planned one I should hit 13.
Candiss wrote: "I just finished my second book: Please Look After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook **** (05/02/14)Read: 2/6"
That looks really good! I'm adding it to my tbr list.
Updated you.
7/101.✓
Life of Pi by Yann Martel2.✓
How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran3. ✓
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan4.✓
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman5.✓
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier6.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See7. ✓
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams8.✓
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield9.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner10.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
4/10 Muriel Barbery's L'Élégance du hérisson (original French version of The Elegance of the Hedgehog)
Congratulations on completing your goal Erika!
Thank you Adriana :)Congrats on reaching your goal Erika!
I've been really stressed and it seems GR-challenges has only made it worse (despite the fact that I've already come to love them!), so if it's okay, I've downgraded my goal from 12 to 8. Not because I don't think I could reach the other goal, but the lower the goal, the less stressed I am lol :)If it's okay, then that would mean my goal is now at
5/8
Finished my challenge 5/5
May 8,14 wow what was a good book
Thanks Adriana and Aleta!I might go back and read more from this list later on. I read so many good books because of it!
I'm now at 10/18 for this challenge. I recently finished The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - 4.5 stars - brilliant writing by Liane Moriarty. I've read What Alice Forgot previously, but must read more of her.
I also finished The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, an amusingly ludicrous story about a 100-year old man who escapes out of his nursing home and goes on the run as a criminal. There's a lot of politics involved as we find out more about his early life along the way and he played a few bit parts on the world stage, but I didn't worry about the political bits too much! 3.5 stars.
And I've just finished and enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - it was a good read, and quite powerful, but I'm not sure that it's worth all the hype.
I'm now reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón which I stopped reading to read TFIOS. I'm 1/5 of the way through, and I'm not caring much about the characters yet - it's just as easy to put down as it is to pick up, at this stage - possibly a little easier...
Finished another one. It was an emotional one. I really liked it. An interesting tale of motherhood.9/13 Completed
What I read so far
5★
4★
4★
5★
5★
5★
5★
4★
4★
Finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. A moving account set in present day and 1942 Paris. I loved both of the narrators. I can definitely see why this one made this recommendation list. I'm ✼ 14/15 ✼ for the challenge.
Candiss wrote: "I finished my 3rd book: Ru by Kim Thúy **** (4.5 really, 05/13/14)Read: 3/6"
I'm happy you liked it. I really did too. I need to read Mãn. I'm happy somebody outside Quebec can discover her and appreciate her. She was my add:) I wonder how is the English translation.
I think I'm going to have to increase my goal! I had originally planned for 9 books and I have already read 8 this year. So I'd like my new goal to be 15 if that's ok!Completed books so far:
Completed my 7th selection - The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton. I really wanted to like this book but couldn't connect with either the characters or the storyline. As a female attorney, the subject matter was important to me. However, I felt that the author was writing caricatures of female attorneys, rather than writing true characters. The plot was frustrating and the writing seemed to be particularly obscure. Overall, rather disappointing. 2.5 stars7/10
Hi Adriana,I finished The Fault in Our Stars today. I updated message # 8. I should be at 9 books now.
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Cloud Atlas (other topics)The Book Thief (other topics)
A Game of Thrones (other topics)
Life of Pi (other topics)
And the Mountains Echoed (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Neil Gaiman (other topics)Robin Sloan (other topics)
Veronica Roth (other topics)
Edward Kelsey Moore (other topics)
Robert Galbraith (other topics)
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How did you find it? I find the opinion on this book really polarized. Some HP fans hate it and others adore it, I didn't hear many in between opinion.
I liked it a lot personally. I grew up in a small town and recognized a lot of it in the book. It's not an epic exciting fantasy like HP, but I think the people and town is beautifully described, though I get some people might not like it, if they are fans of HP.