2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Paul's Spinning Carousel - 180+ books in 2016
Book #150
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Finished 8th July 2016
450p
Why I read it: It won the Costa Book of the Year Award in 2006, and it sounded interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Historical mystery/thriller, female, white, UK, 2000s, July, new, adult, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #151
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Finished 9th July 2016
288p
Why I read it: It's a children's classic, I figured it was about time I read it.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Classics/general/historical, female, white, Canada, 1900s, July, new, children, series, novel, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy, Around the World
Book #153
Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher, #1) by Kerry Greenwood
Finished 11th July 2016
175p
Why I read it: A bunch of my Internet friends raved about Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries a long time back, and one of them was reading the books, so when I saw this for cheap I figured I'd get it. Not in a "The book is good! The TV is evil!" kind of way though.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Mystery/thriller/historical, female, white, Australia, 1980s, July, new, adult, series, novel, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy, Around the World (Australia)
Book #154
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4) by J.K. Rowling
Finished 13th July 2016
636p
Why I read it: To let the fun (and trauma) continue! :D
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, female, white, UK, 2000s, July, familiar, children's, series, novel, long, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #155
Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) by Pierce Brown
Finished 14th July 2016
401p
Why I read it: It was a Big Thing that I happened to find for ludicrously cheap one day. I had to have it.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Dystopian/sci-fi, male, white, USA, 2010s, July, new, young adult, series, novel, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #156
The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
Finished 14th July 2016
305p
Why I read it: It's a Patrick Ness novel for adults (though not his first)! Doesn't that sound like something I'd be interested in?!
Rating: 4/5
Categories: General/fantasy, male, white, USA/UK, 2010s, July, familiar, adult, standalone, novel, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #157
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (translated by Thomas Teal)
Finished 16th July 2016
176p
Why I read it: I'd heard great things about it from somewhere, and it showed up in a Kindle sale.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: General, female, white, Finland, 1970s, July, familiar, adult, standalone, short story, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition, Around the World (Finland), Popsugar (book that takes place at summer)
Book #158
Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions (New Scientist Last Word, #4) by Contributors to the Last Word section of New Scientist
Finished 16th July 2016
236p
Why I read it: Though I'd already bought Question Everything: 132 science questions - and their unexpected answers and still haven't read it, I saw this in a Kindle sale and liked the idea of going back to the beginning.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Science, male/female, white/POC, UK/the World, 2000s, July, new, all ages, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #159
Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1) by Connie Willis
Finished 17th July 2016
587p
Why I read it: Mark Oshiro may or may not be reading it at some point.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Speculative/historical fiction, female, white, USA, 1990s, July, new, adult, standalone, novel, long, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #160
Joyland by Stephen King
Finished 18th July 2016
283p
Why I read it: I took my first(ish) small step towards fighting the Big Boogeyman by picking this up as a Kindle Daily Deal one day. It looked good! What else can I say?
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Coming of age/mystery/thriller/paranormal, male, white, USA, 2010s, July, familiar, adult, standalone, novel, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition, Recommended by Reading Challengers
Book #161
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Finished 20th July 2016
128p
Why I read it: It's The Time Machine!
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Science fiction, male, white, UK, earlier, July, familiar, adult, standalone, novella, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #162
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5) by J.K. Rowling
Finished 22th July 2016
766p
Why I read it: I COULDN'T GIVE UP NOW, COULD I?
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, female, white, UK, 2000s, July, familiar, young adult, series, novel, very long, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #163
Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott
Finished 23th July 2016
647p
Why I read it: It's Little Women! It's kind of a classic, right?
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Classics/general, female, white, USA, earlier, July, new, children, series, novel, long, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #164
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Finished 26th July 2016
274p
Why I read it: It's Brave New World!
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Dystopian/speculative, male, white, UK/USA, 1930s, July, new, adult, standalone, novel, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #165
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6) by J.K. Rowling
Finished 27th July 2016
607p
Why I read it: I couldn't give up now, not when I'm this close!
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, female, white, UK, 2000s, July, familiar, young adult, series, novel, long, reread, physical.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #166
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Finished 31th July 2016
704p
Why I read it: It was on one of those lists for teens I used to pay attention to for six months, and it sounded interesting. Poor teens.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Mystery/thriller/historical, female, white, USA, 2000s, July, new, adults, standalone, novel, long, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #167
The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) by J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith)
Finished 31th July 2016
550p
Why I read it: It's The Cuckoo's Calling and I just couldn't resist it (eventually), because I'm a terrible person.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Mystery/thriller, female, white, UK, 2010s, July, familiar, adults, series, novel, long, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, I Spy Book Edition
Book #168
High Wizardry (Young Wizards, #3) by Diane Duane
Finished 31th July 2016
166p
Why I read it: Mark Oshiro was reading it.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Sci-fi, female, white, USA/Ireland, 1990s, July, familiar, children, series, novel, short, audiobook, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Léamh go Brách
Book #169
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (translated by David Wyllie)
Finished 1st August 2016
44p
Why I read it: Going to Prague finally got me into the Franz Kafka mood, and this was free on Amazon.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Classic/dystopian, male, white, USA/Ireland, 1910s, August, new, adult, standalone, novella, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Around the World (Czech Republic)
Book #170
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7) by J.K. Rowling
Finished 2nd August 2016
607p
Why I read it: To close the circle before I open it once again.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, female, white, UK, 2000s, August, familiar, young adult, series, novel, long, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #171
Harvest by Jim Crace
Finished 3rd August 2016
272p
Why I read it: It won the IMPAC award, and it was nominated for the Booker Prize.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Historical/general, male, white, UK, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #172
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II: Special Rehearsal Edition (Harry Potter, hashsymboleight) by Jack Thorne
Finished 4th August 2016
320p
Why I read it: I'm an awful fan.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, male, white, UK, 2010s, August, new, everyone?, series, play, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #173
All the Beggars Riding by Lucy Caldwell
Finished 6th August 2016
272p
Why I read it: It was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, and it was in my library.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: General/historical, female, white, UK/Ireland, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Léamh go Brách
Book #174
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #1) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 6th August 2016
160p
Why I read it: It was about time, really.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, new, adults, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #175
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #2) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 8th August 2016
162p
Why I read it: Keeping on keeping on.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #176
Warm Up (Vicious, #0.5) by V.E. Schwab
Finished 8th August 2016
15p
Why I read it: I read Vicious a few months back, liking it without loving it, and then heard about this and then forgot about it. Today though I figured out somebody else had read it, went "oh right! that exists!" and looked it up on Tor.com.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Spec fic, female, white, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, short story, short, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #177
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel)
Finished 9th August 2016
615p
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again, especially now that I own it.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Coming of age/general/fantasy, male, POC, Japan/USA, 2000s, August, familiar, adults, standalone, novel, long, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #178
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #3) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 10th August 2016
209p
Why I read it: Keeping on keeping on.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #179
Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon de Valera by Diarmaid Ferriter
Finished 10th August 2016
408p
Why I read it: It was in my library, it seemed interesting, and I really wanted to be on an Irish (history) cic this year.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: History/biography/memoir, male, white, Ireland, 2000s, August, new, adults, standalone, nonfiction, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Léamh go Brách
Book #180
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (translated by Susan Massotty)
Finished 12th August 2016
338p
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Biography/memoir/history/coming of age, female, white, Netherlands/Germany, 1940s, August, familiar, adults/young adults, standalone, nonfiction, medium, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction, I Spy Book Edition
Book #181
Feet of Clay (Discworld #19, City Watch #3) by Terry Pratchett
Finished 13th August 2016
384p
Why I read it: Mark Oshiro was reading it.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, male, white, UK, 1990s, August, familiar, adults, series, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #182
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie
Finished 13th August 2016
313p
Why I read it: It was nominated for the 2015 Women's Prize, and it was in my library.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Historical, female, POC, UK/Pakistan, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #183
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #4) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 14th August 2016
220p
Why I read it: Keeping on keeping on.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
You are crushing your goal Paul!
Thank you Winter! Though really I should have just put it up by now, that would've been way better. (In fairness I'm having a bit of change of life situation soon so I'd rather see how many books I manage to read this year instead of having to worry about a goal I might never make even if it's meaningless.) How're you getting on yourself anyway? Wait don't tell me ... pretty good! And besides, I know it's easy for me to say, but it's really about the books in the number and not the number of books, right? How's it been going in that sense then? :)
True. I'm reading a really good one right now in Ender Game series. I'm definitely behind goalwise since I have been sort of slumpy. It's been better now, only less time to read. :)
Book #184
Seeing Things by Seamus Heaney
Finished 16th August 2016
113p
Why I read it: It was in my library, and I wanted to read more Irish poetry this year.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: General, male, white, UK/Ireland/USA, 1990s, August, familiar, adults, standalone, poetry, short, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Léamh go Brách
Book #185
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Finished 16th August 2016
416p
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, male, white, UK, 1990s, August, familiar, adults, standalone, novel, medium, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #186
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #5) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 17th August 2016
313p
Why I read it: Keeping on keeping on.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #187
Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
Finished 17th August 2016
192p
Why I read it: It's Madame Doubtfire! And it was on a list I used to pay attention to for six months way back, that I never quite scrubbed out. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Rating: 2/5
Categories: General, female, white, UK, 1980s, August, familiar, young adults, standalone, novel, short, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #188
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #6) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 19th August 2016
224p
Why I read it: Keeping on keeping on.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, short, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #189
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mark Reads Harry Potter, #7) by Mark Oshiro
Finished 20th August 2016
290p
Why I read it: Rounding out the circle to open it once again.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Criticism, male, POC, USA, 2010s, August, familiar, adults, series, nonfiction, medium, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Nonfiction
Book #190
Pure by Andrew Miller
Finished 21th August 2016
342p
Why I read it: It won the Costa Book of the Year in 2011, it sounded interesting, and it was in my library.
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Historical, male, white, UK, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #191
The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Finished 21th August 2016
398p
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, male, white, UK/South Africa, 1950s, August, familiar, adults, series, novel, medium, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #192
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
Finished 26th August 2016
365p
Why I read it: It's a crowdfunded post-apocalyptic story set a thousand years in the past and written in an updated constructed Old English that was longlisted for the Booker Prize. How does that not sound amazing?
Rating: 3/5
Categories: Historical, male, white, UK/Ireland, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Léamh go Brách
Book #193
The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings, #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Finished 26th August 2016
322p
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, male, white, UK/South Africa, 1950s, August, familiar, adults, series, novel, medium, physical, reread.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #194
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
Finished 27th August 2016
368p
Why I read it: It won the Costa First Novel Award for 2015, and it sounded interesting.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: General, male, white, UK, 2010s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, medium, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #195
Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller
Finished 29th August 2016
245p
Why I read it: Was it because of the movie? Maybe. Was it on one of those lists that I used to pay attention to for six months a while back? Could've been. Do I have a third one of these questions to answer? Nyes.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: General, female, white, UK, 2000s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, short, borrowed.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
Book #196
The Shoebox Project by Jaida Jones and Rave/dorkorific
Finished 29th August 2016
571p
Why I read it: Mark Oshiro read it, it seemed like a fun time, and I wanted to see Remus/Sirius be a thing. I was President Snow for a time basically.
Rating: 4/5
Categories: Fantasy, female, white, USA, 2000s, August, new, adults, standalone, novel, long, ebook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Cirque Du Freak (other topics)Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays (other topics)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (other topics)
Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea (other topics)
The Undertaking (other topics)
More...
I don't know that they're high so much as they're ludicrously inconsistent. Always feels like I like things either way less than everyone else, or way more. Though maybe that can just be blamed on people having different tastes and all that. Still though, how does 3.64/5 on average for the year so far sound?