2025 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE 2020
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Chris's 61 in 2020 (increased goal)
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January:1. The Amber Spyglass ⭐️⭐️
2. The World Doesn't Require You: Stories ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. The Dutch House ⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. The Institute ⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. The Immortalists ⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Balthasar's Odyssey ⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
February:
8. I'll Take You There ⭐️⭐️
9. Olive, Again ⭐️⭐️⭐️
10. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
11. Home ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
12. The Intuitionist ⭐️⭐️⭐️
March:
13. When We Were Vikings ⭐️⭐️⭐️
14. The Girl with the Louding Voice ⭐️⭐️⭐️
15. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
16. Speak ⭐️⭐️
17. The Mirror & the Light ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
18. Sharks in the Time of Saviors ⭐️⭐️⭐️
April:
19. The Glass Hotel ⭐️⭐️⭐️
20. The City We Became ⭐️⭐️⭐️
21. Valentine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
22. The Night Watchman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
23. A Woman Is No Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
24. There There ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May:
25. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead ⭐️⭐️⭐️
26. Deacon King Kong ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
27. Actress ⭐️⭐️⭐️
28. All Adults Here ⭐️⭐️
29. The Book of Longings ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
30. The Water Dancer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
June:
31. Waiting ⭐️⭐️⭐️
32. City of Thieves ⭐️⭐️⭐️
33. She Would Be King ⭐️⭐️⭐️
34. The Plague of Doves ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
35. Homegoing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
36. The Book of Lost Saints ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
37. The Unseen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July:
38. Blindness ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
39. Lincoln in the Bardo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
40. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry ⭐️⭐️⭐️
41. Death in Her Hands ⭐️⭐️⭐️
42. The Keeper of Lost Things ⭐️⭐️
43. Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
44. Dept. of Speculation ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
45. Aubrey McKee ⭐️⭐️⭐️
46. We Have Always Lived in the Castle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
47. The Regional Office is Under Attack! ⭐️⭐️
48. Where the Crawdads Sing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August:
49. Eileen ⭐️⭐️⭐️
50. The Good Lord Bird ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
51. The Lost Shtetl ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September:
52. The Color of Air ⭐️⭐️⭐️
53. Frankenstein in Baghdad ⭐️⭐️⭐️
54. Transcendent Kingdom ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October:
55. LaRose ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
56. The Lost Country ⭐️⭐️⭐️
57. The Invention of Wings ⭐️⭐️⭐️
November:
58. Jack ⭐️⭐️⭐️
59. The Evening and the Morning ⭐️⭐️
60. Memorial ⭐️⭐️⭐️
December:
61. A State of Freedom ⭐️⭐️⭐️
62. Leave the World Behind ⭐️⭐️
63. The Cold Millions ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Of these 18 so far, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was an absolute revelation. The World Doesn't Require You: Stories came close.
Thank you for your recommendation of these two books! I have added them to my 2020 reading list.
That’s great! Would love to hear your thoughts.
Chris wrote: "Only made it to 49 last year so trying to actually document it this time around to keep me moving forward. So far, it's been a productive few months with some enjoyable reads. I'm also participatin..."I hadn't heard of the Let's Turn Pages challenge before reading the post about your reading challenge, but I am also aiming for 20,000 pages this year, particularly as I'm reading longer books (my current read is the 900-page Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon). Sticking with a goal of a book a week too! Why have you picked 53 may I ask?
Sorry for the response delay Rebecca but am glad you found Let's Turn Pages. It really does help when tackling longer books that take awhile. I have a couple I'm planning to read later in the year. To answer your question, I picked 53 somewhat at random... I read 51 two years ago (hitting target), 49 last year (missing target), so chose 53 this year as it seemed a bit symmetrical.
April updated. Was a bit disappointed in The Glass Hotel as well as The City We Became. High expectations I guess. But as always Louise Erdrich delivered with The Night Watchman. She's amazing. She also has a small bookstore that people should check out... Birchbark. Honestly, this was just a really good month of books though. Got lucky.
I am all about magic this year. I hope that your reading goal is your little touch of magic.
Took awhile for June update but up now. The Book of Lost Saints and The Unseen were the biggest surprises.
Seems like I'm running even further behind with updates as year goes by... July is up finally. Closing in on goal but will likely raise it.
No big surprises. Blindness was great as was Lincoln in the Bardo, which seems to get a bad rap in some quarters. I liked the style quite a bit. Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands was fine, but I expected more. Bit of a let down. I'm sure she's very concerned with my opinion...
Raised goal from 53 to 61 in September but just updating here now. I know it's not a big jump but wanted to pass 60.
August and September were kind of light but The Good Lord Bird was the highlight followed closely by Transcendent Kingdom.
Also passed page count goal for Let's Turn Pages so now just need to hit book total.
The rest of November plus complete December added. Pretty good overall. No clear standouts which was a bit disappointing considering some of the hype involved.
So goal exceeded thankfully (unlike last year) and page goal beat as well. Will shoot for about the same in 2021.
Best book I read this year was Deacon King Kong followed closely by 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Very different books but really well-done.
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (other topics)Deacon King Kong (other topics)
Leave the World Behind (other topics)
A State of Freedom (other topics)
The Cold Millions (other topics)
More...
63/61
21,551/20,000 pages