2025 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE: Monthly Challenges
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June: The School Year Challenge
Finished my first one:
1. Summer break: This is the time of year many students look forward to the most. Older students can spend months planning vacations, studying abroad or searching for the right summer job.
Read a book that involves a life changing trip or vacation
Blood Promise (Main character Rose travels to Siberia (view spoiler))
1. Summer break: This is the time of year many students look forward to the most. Older students can spend months planning vacations, studying abroad or searching for the right summer job.
Read a book that involves a life changing trip or vacation
Blood Promise (Main character Rose travels to Siberia (view spoiler))
I'm brand new to this group - hi all :) I really like the idea of these challenges.I'm going to do tasks #1 and #5 at least. Planning on Everything Is Illuminated for #1 (life-changing trip) and She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders for #5 (transition).
Does it count if I started a book at the tail-end of the previous month? I started Paper Towns (which would fit #8) on May 29 but barely read any until June 1. Not sure how strict the rules are. It's okay if it doesn't count!
Shannon, Welcome to the challenge! It counts as long as you complete it in June! I've got you added for two now but let me know if you would like to make it 3!Updated to here! Congrats on everyone's progress!
Seems like everything I read fits the challenge. Just finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman for #1 "Life-Changing Trip." This book is a wonderful traveling adventure in the land of Faerie. I'm 4/8 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
Welcome to the group Shannon! Enjoy the challenge and good luck :)
Hi all. Please sign me up for 6. Finished 6/6
1. Summer break: This is the time of year many students look forward to the most. Older students can spend months planning vacations, studying abroad or searching for the right summer job.
Read a book that involves a life chaneging trip or vacation
The Selection done 6/15/14
5. Seniors: The last year of high school or university is the time when students prepare for the next step in their lives.
Read a book involving a transition (high school to college, human to non-human etc)
. 6/10/14Transition from human to non human and non human to human
6. Juniors: Juniors are looking forward to their last year, sending applications (college, job or other) and hoping that they know themselves well enough to make the right choice.
Read a book where a character struggles with his/her identity or is trying to figure out who they are
finished 6/6/14The main characters are all struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong.
9. Foreign Exchange: Exchange students represent the connection between a familiar world and a country that is just another chapter in a geography book.
Read a book set in a foreign country
Set in a future America now known as Ilea.
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you
finished 6/13/1412. New School Year: As the summer comes to a close and the new year starts, students are barraged with tests to assess what they’ve retained over the long vacation.
Read a book involving memory or memory loss
Breakable done 6/21/14
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.Read a book by an author that is new to you
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
2/8
Just finished Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block for #3 "Bad Teacher." This is a fun read and first in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series -- he's a burglar (and a gentleman). I'm 5/8 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
Completed: 1/211. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you.
3. Bad teacher: “Bad” is equally subjective but is sometimes more easily discernible. Think about your least favorite teacher or an educator who didn’t seem to care.Read a book involving the topic he/she taught or where the characters do something that is generally unacceptable.
Wide Sargasso Sea
3/8
Just completed #3 (unacceptable action) - Fire by Kristin Cashore. The first half of this book was quite disappointing and took me a long time to get interested in the narrative. However, the background and 2nd half of the book made up for the first half. Characters were engaging and the fantasy world was intriguing. Be warned - this book does not follow consecutively from Graceling but rather predates that book. Worth reading! 4 stars4/4 - challenge completed!
Just finished Unwind by Neal Shusterman ( an author new to me) for #11 "Junior Varsity." Great book. I'm 6/8 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
Update! 1/6 6. Juniors: Juniors are looking forward to their last year, sending applications (college, job or other) and hoping that they know themselves well enough to make the right choice.
Read a book where a character struggles with his/her identity or is trying to figure out who they are
finished 6/6/14The main characters are all struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong.
1/3 complete! I decided to use Unwind for #6 because each of the characters in this book are struggling with finding themselves. Not just with trying to figure out who they will be after they are unwound but with who they are if they are not unwound and what about them made them become a candidate to be unwound. goodness I am all about the rambling tonight. you can tell its 230 am
I just finished for #6. Read a book where a character struggles with his/her identity or is trying to figure out who they are: De toneelclub, in which the main character struggles to free herself from all the dominant characters who surround herself to become her true self (like a boyfriend who abused her, a mother who forces her will upon her and a woman who, as a girl in highschool, teased her a lot).3/5
Just finished my selection for #10 (power struggle) - Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. Really good book and conclusion to the entire series. Tad redundant in bits, but it really brought the first and second books together. Definitely worth reading! 4.5 stars5/4
I've finished my third book and I've increased my goal since I have already finished my original goal. The third book was for 4. The Classics:
3/3
I've updated message 27
Courtney wrote: "It counts as long as you complete it in June!"Awesome! Well in that case, make it 3 please. :)
I just completed She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders for task #5, so then including Paper Towns for task #8 which I finished earlier, I'm 2/3.
Updated! Noam, welcome to challenge!
Megan & Brianna, Congratulations on completing your challenge!
Just finished Massacre Pond by Paul Doiron for #10 Varsity "Power Struggle." The power struggle was between wildlife conservationists and the timber industry. I'm 7/8 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
Finished 1 more. 2/6Seniors: The last year of high school or university is the time when students prepare for the next step in their lives.
Read a book involving a transition (high school to college, human to non-human etc)
. 6/10/14Transition from human to non human and non human to human
I just read for #10 (power struggle): Rich Boys, in which a power struggle exists between the main character and her abducter.4/5
I finished my first book for the challenge: 11. Read a book by an author that is new to you:
1/2
Just completed #1 (life changing vacation) - Seven Exes Are Eight Too Many by Heather Wardell. So cute and much better than I expected! Good chick lit - definitely worth reading! 4 stars6/4
Finished for #2: Remember the Moon, because one of the main characters is a painter. One of my favourite teachers was my drawings-teacher. He was one of the few we could call by his first name - which was a very uncommon first name: Joep. He was cross-eyed, so when he appeared to look at your neighbour, he was really looking at you. Unfortunately drawings was not a subject we could do our exams in, so I had to quit after a few years...5/5
Oh, I just realized I finished this challenge... I'll try to do some more!
Elsbeth, Congrats on completing the challenge!
Courtney wrote: "Elsbeth, Congrats on completing the challenge!"Thanks!
I think I'll just try to add 3 more.
So than I'm : 5/8
Courtney -- Could you increase my goal from 8 to 12 please? My eighth book for the challenge was Black Swan by Chris Knopf for #7 Sophomore "characters wise or foolish, or both." The main character, Sam Acquillo, is brilliant and pig-headed, solving the mystery is more important than personal safety....naturally. (I'm 8/12 for the challenge now.)
I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
2/2 done (may finish more, not sure yet)
3. Bad teacher: “Bad” is equally subjective but is sometimes more easily discernible. Think about your least favorite teacher or an educator who didn’t seem to care.
Read a book involving the topic he/she taught or where the characters do something that is generally unacceptable.
City of Lost Souls (characters raise a demon)
3. Bad teacher: “Bad” is equally subjective but is sometimes more easily discernible. Think about your least favorite teacher or an educator who didn’t seem to care.
Read a book involving the topic he/she taught or where the characters do something that is generally unacceptable.
City of Lost Souls (characters raise a demon)
Courtney wrote: "Updated! Noam, welcome to challenge!
Megan & Brianna, Congratulations on completing your challenge!"
Thank you! I didn't think I was going to finish it that soon. So I decided to increase my goal to 9 books
Finished 11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.Read a book by an author that is new to you
Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
updated message 27
4/9
2/3 down. I have finished Thinner by Stephen King. I am using it for number 7 because many of the characters were foolish which is what caused them to be cursed in the first place.
Kelsi, Congrats on completing the challenge!Everyone is updated!
COMPLETED: 2/24. The Classics: There are hundreds of books that consistently make summer reading lists. Often, reading these allows us to avoid judgment from other readers later in life – “How have you never read that?” they tend to say.
Read a book that you feel like you "should" have read by now.
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you.
Finished one for #8: Read a book where the character(s) are outsiders or experiencing something entirely new to them;Some Like It Hot-Buttered
The main character owns a movie theatre (that is new to him, cause he was a writer) in which someone is killed and he gets involved in solving the murder - which is also new to him.
6/8
Finished one for #3:Labor Day
One for #9:
Me Before You
and One for #1:
Whistling Past the Graveyard
4/5 :)
Finished 1 more! 3/6
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you
finished 6/13/14
Finished 1/26. Juniors: Juniors are looking forward to their last year, sending applications (college, job or other) and hoping that they know themselves well enough to make the right choice.
Read a book where a character struggles with his/her identity or is trying to figure out who they are -
- 15/6/2014
Finished 4/6 1. Summer break: This is the time of year many students look forward to the most. Older students can spend months planning vacations, studying abroad or searching for the right summer job.
Read a book that involves a life changing trip or vacation
The Selection done 6/15/14
Just finished Refuge by Dot Jackson for #5 Seniors -- Read a book involving a transition. This was a great book. The main character leaves the only life she knew (in 1920s Charleston) to live with family she's never met in Appalachia. I'm 9/12 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
2/3Just completed Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky for #9. Foreign Exchange: Read a book set in a foreign country
Sara - Congrats on completing the challenge!Updated to here!
Finished another one (3/2):
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
11. Junior Varsity: For athletes in the making, getting a spot on the JV team gives them the opportunity to learn new skills in order to reach Varsity.
Read a book by an author that is new to you
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
❀ message 13 ❀ 4/53. Bad teacher - Curtain ★★★★
5. Seniors - Radúz a Mahulena ★★★
6. Juniors - To All the Boys I've Loved Before ★★★★ (and half)
10. Varsity - Blindness ★★★★
Just finished Wolf by Mo Hayder for #12 New School Year -- Read a book involving memory or memory loss. This was a riveting thriller set in Somerset, England. The main character is a police officer named Jack Caffery who is obsessed with finding what happened to his brother (abducted as a child). I'm 10/12 for the challenge now.I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼
4/89. Foreign Exchange: Exchange students represent the connection between a familiar world and a country that is just another chapter in a geography book. Read a book set in a foreign country
The Old Man and the Sea, which takes place off the coast of Cuba.
5/69. Foreign Exchange: Exchange students represent the connection between a familiar world and a country that is just another chapter in a geography book.
Read a book set in a foreign country
Set in a future America now known as Ilea.
Hi, I've got another one
1. Summer break: Read a book that involves a life changing trip or vacation
3/4
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Wrangler's Inconvenient Wife (other topics)Return of the Cowboy Doctor (other topics)
The Story of My Life (other topics)
Robinson Crusoe (other topics)
Mockingjay (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
L.J. Smith (other topics)Neal Shusterman (other topics)
Kim Echlin (other topics)
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (other topics)
Annie Dillard (other topics)
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I've updated my progress on my original post ✼ Message 7 ✼