2025 Releases Challenge
Seven genres. Books, editions published in 2025.
| Genre | Title | Author | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literary Fiction | My Friends | Fredrik Backman | 28 Sep |
| Romance | |||
| Fantasy | The Ragpicker King | Cassandra Clare | |
| Science Fiction & Dystopian | All The Water In The World | Eiren Caffall | 15 Feb |
| Mystery & Horror | Whispers of the Lake | Shanora Williams | 06 Mar |
| Historical Fiction | The Stolen Queen | Fiona Davis | 23 Feb |
| Non-Fiction & Memoirs | Mark Twain | Ron Chernow | 13 Jul |
| Bonus: Debut Novel | The Eights | Joanna Miller |
Books of 1965 Challenge
I was born on December 3, 1965. Each month in 2025, I plan to read at least one novel published in 1965.
| MO. | Title | Author | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| J | Land Beyond the Map | Kenneth Bulmer | 5 Jan |
| F | The Looking Glass War | John le Carré | 27 Feb |
| M | A Fragment of Fear | John Bingham | 18 Mar |
| A | The Man With The Golden Gun | Ian Fleming | 28 Apr |
| M | Up the Down Staircase | Bel Kaufman | 25 May |
| J | |||
| J | The Doorbell Rang | Rex Stout | 31 Jul |
| A | |||
| S | |||
| O | A Deadly Shade of Gold | John D. MacDonald | |
| N | Dune | Frank Herbert | |
| D |
Bookish Books Reading Challenge
There are several different levels to this challenge with yearly totals counted rather than monthly goals. I aim to reach the “Picking and Perusing” tier, a total of 11-20 books read.
| # | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading | Jason Merkoski (2017) | 16 Jan |
| 2 | The Plot | Jean Hanff Korelitz (2021) | 31 Mar |
| 3 | The Sequel | Jean Hanff Korelitz (2024) | 8 Apr |
| 4 | 84, Charing Cross Road | Helene Hanff | 11 May |
| 5 | Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers | Emma Smith (2022) | 07 Jul |
| 6 | |||
| 7 | |||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 |
Classics Reading Challenge
Monthly prompts for books written before 1970.
| MO. | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| J | [A classic discovered in a used bookstore] Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe (1719) | 25 Jan |
| F | [A Russian novel or short story collection] Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka | Nikolai Gogol (1832) | 9 Feb |
| M | [A classic about immigrants or pioneers] Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson (1884) | DNF |
| A | [A classic set on your own turf] The Bridge Over The River Kwai | Pierre Boulle (1954) | 29 Apr |
| M | [A book you were supposed to read in school] The Catcher In The Rye | J. D. Salinger (1951) | 27 May |
| J | [Nonfiction nature writing] The Illustrated Walden | Henry David Thoreau (1854) | 27 Jun |
| J | [A science fiction novel or short story collection] The Caves of Steel | Isaac Asimov (1954) | 24 Jul |
| A | [A classic by an author you’ve only read once] | ||
| S | [A classic World War I or World War II novel] | ||
| O | [A Jane Austen novel] Northanger Abbey | Jane Austen (1817) | |
| N | [A poetry collection by one of the Romantic poets] | ||
| D | [A Medieval or Renaissance classic] |
Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge
I can easily hit the “Amateur Sleuth” level (5-10 books). I would like to set my sights a bit higher to that of “Detective”, 16-25 books finished. Books used for other challenges can also apply to this one!
| # | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide | Rupert Holmes (2023) | 14 Jan |
| 2 | What the River Knows | Isabel Ibañez (2023) | 31 Jan |
| 3 | The Stolen Queen | Fiona Davis (2025) | 23 Feb |
| 4 | The Looking Glass War | John le Carré (1965) | 27 Feb |
| 5 | The Day of the Jackal | Frederick Forsythe (1971) | 28 Feb |
| 6 | Whispers of the Lake | Shanora Williams (2025) | 8 Mar |
| 7 | A Fragment of Fear | John Bingham (1965) | 18 Mar |
| 8 | The Plot | Jean Hanff Korelitz (2021) | 31 Mar |
| 9 | The Sequel | Jean Hanff Korelitz (2024) | 8 Apr |
| 10 | None Of This Is True | Lisa Jewell (2023) | 10 May |
| 11 | Hidden Genders | Colin Cotterill (2011) | 11 Jun |
| 12 | The Doorbell Rang | Rex Stout (1965) | 31 Jul |
| 13 | Strangers in Time | David Baldacci (2025) | |
| 14 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 16 |
Crossing Continents Challenge
This is my own challenge, started in 2024 and continuing with slightly more difficult prompts each month of 2025.
| MO. | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| J | [set on a ship crossing from Europe to N. America] Crossing on the Paris | Dana Gynther (2012) | 26 Jan |
| F | [set in Oceania] The Mysterious Island | Jules Verne (1874) | 26 Feb |
| M | [set on the Arabian Peninsula] Celestial Bodies | Jokha Alharthi (2010) | 21 Mar |
| A | [set in Mesoamerica] The Actual Star | Monica Byrne (2021) | 27 Apr |
| M | [set in wartime eastern Europe] The Lost Daughters of Ukraine | Erin Litteken (2023) | 18 May |
| J | [set in Southeast Asia] The Amok Runners | Colin Cotterill (2016) | 06 Jul |
| J | [set in the American Southwest or West] Shadow of the Solstice | Anne Hillerman (2025) | 19 Jul |
| A | [set in Scandinavia] My Friends | Fredrik Backman (2025) | 28 Sep |
| S | [set in South America] Pacazo | Roy Kesey (2011) | |
| O | [set in a spooky mansion or castle] How To Sell A Haunted House | Grady Hendrix (2023) | |
| N | [set in Africa during colonial times] | ||
| D | [set in either Arctic region] |
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
This is another challenge that does not have monthly prompts, only a commitment to read (and review) a number of books for different levels. My aim for 2025 is to reach the “Renaissance Reader” tier of 10 books.
| # | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What the River Knows | Isabel Ibañez (2023) | 31 Jan |
| 2 | The Stolen Queen | Fiona Davis (2025) | 23 Feb |
| 3 | Roots | Alex Haley (1976) | 15 Mar |
| 4 | April Morning | Howard Fast (1961) | 23 Apr |
| 5 | The Bridge Over The River Kwai | Pierre Boulle (1954) | 29 Apr |
| 6 | The Lost Daughters of Ukraine | Erin Litteken (2023) | 18 May |
| 7 | The Buffalo Hunter Hunter | Stephen Graham Jones (2025) | 29 May |
| 8 | The Black Dahlia | James Ellroy (1987) | 02 Jun |
| 9 | Bunker Hill | Howard Fast (2001) | 13 Jun |
| 10 | Flight of Dreams | Ariel Lawhon (2016) | 10 Sep |
My Novel Life: 1965-2025
This is another personal challenge, coupled with my Books of 1965 Challenge. Each month, I will choose another novel published during each five-year period since I was born.
| MO. | Title | Author/Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| J | [1966-1969] The Crying of Lot 49 | Thomas Pynchon (1966) | 17 Jan |
| F | [1970-1974] Rendezvous with Rama | Arthur C. Clarke (1973) | 9 Feb |
| M | [1975-1979] Ragtime | E. L. Doctorow (1975) | 28 Mar |
| A | [1980-1984] Congo | Michael Crichton (1980) | 18 Apr |
| M | [1985-1989] The Black Dahlia | James Ellroy (1987) | 02 Jun |
| J | [1990-1994] Oh, The Places You’ll Go! | Dr. Seuss (1990) | 11 Jun |
| J | [1995-1999] | ||
| A | [2000-2004] | ||
| S | [2005-2009] | ||
| O | [2010-2014] | ||
| N | [2015-2019] | ||
| D | [2020-2024] |
Nonfiction Reader Challenge
Participants can choose to read and review from 12 different categories: History, Memoir/Biography, True Crime, Science, Health, Food, Travel, Food, Garden, Myth/Legend/Folklore, Islands, How-To, and Published in 2025.
| # | Title | Author/ Published | FIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [How-To] Study With Me: Effective Bullet Journaling Techniques, Habits, and Hacks To Be Successful, Productive, and Organized | Jasmine Shao (2019) | 2 Jan |
| 2 | [Garden] Apartment Gardening: Plants, Projects, and Recipes for Growing Food in Your Urban Home | Amy Pennington (2011) | 2 Feb |
| 3 | [Memoir] Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You | Lucinda Williams (2023) | 7 Mar |
| 4 | [True Crime] In Cold Blood | Truman Capote (1966) | 11 Apr |
| 5 | [Travel] The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World… via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes | Carl Hoffman (2010) | 11 May |
| 6 | [Food] How to Grow Potatoes: Planting and Harvesting Organic Food From Your Patio, Rooftop, Balcony, or Backyard Garden | R. J. Ruppenthal (2012) | 20 Jun |
| 7 | [Published in 2025] Mark Twain | Ron Chernow (2025) | 13 Jul |
| 8 | [History] To the Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing | Simon Garfield (2013) | 17 Sep |
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 |
2025 TBR
| Author | Title | Year Published/Date Finished |
|---|---|---|
| Alharti, Jokha | Celestial Bodies | 2010 21 Mar 2025 |
| Asimov, Isaac | The Caves of Steel | 1954 24 Jul 2025 |
| Austen, Jane | Northanger Abbey | 1817 |
| Backman, Fredrik | A Man Called Ove | 2012 20 Jul 2025 |
| Backman, Fredrik | My Friends | 2025 28 Sep 2025 |
| Baker, Joanne | Starwatchers: A History of Discovery in the Night Sky | 2025 25 Jul 2025 |
| Baldacci, David | A Calamity of Souls | 2024 |
| Baldacci, David | Strangers in Time | 2025 |
| Benjamin, Amy & Berger, Joan | Teaching Grammar: What Really Works | 2010 20 Feb 2025 |
| Bennett, Robert Jackson | The Tainted Cup | 2024 |
| Bennett, Robert Jackson | A Drop of Corruption | 2025 |
| Bingham, John | A Fragment of Fear | 1965 18 Mar 2025 |
| Block, Lawrence | Catch And Release: 17 Stories | 2011 |
| Boulle, Pierre | The Bridge Over The River Kwai | 1954 29 Apr 2025 |
| Bulmer, Kenneth | Land Beyond the Map | 1965 5 Jan 2025 |
| Byrne, Monica | The Actual Star | 2021 27 Apr 2025 |
| Caffall, Eiren | All the Water in the World | 2025 15 Feb 2025 |
| Capote, Truman | In Cold Blood | 1966 11 Apr 2025 |
| Carlin, Peter Ames | Tonight In Jungleland: The Making of Born To Run | 2025 10 Sep 2025 |
| Chernow, Ron | Mark Twain | 2025 13 Jul 2025 |
| Child, Lee | The Secret | 2023 |
| Child, Lee | In Too Deep | 2024 |
| Clare, Cassandra | Sword Catcher | 2023 21 Apr 2025 |
| Clare, Cassandra | The Ragpicker King | 2025 |
| Clarke, Arthur C. | Rendezvous with Rama | 1973 9 Feb 2025 |
| Cotterill, Colin | Hidden Genders | 2011 11 Jun 2025 |
| Cotterill, Colin | The Amok Runners | 2016 06 Jul 2025 |
| Cotterill, Colin | The Funeral Photographer | 2017 31 May 2025 |
| Crichton, Michael | Congo | 1980 18 Apr 2025 |
| Crichton, Michael and James Patterson | Eruption | 2024 25 Aug 2025 |
| Darling, Danny and Carl Lee | Geography: Ideas In Profile | 2016 30 May 2025 |
| Davis, Fiona | The Stolen Queen | 2025 23 Feb 2025 |
| Defoe, Daniel | Robinson Crusoe | 1719 25 Jan 2025 |
| Doctorow, E. L. | Ragtime | 1975 28 Mar 2025 |
| Dr. Seuss | Oh, The Places You’ll Go! | 1990 11 Jun 2025 |
| Drake, Garrett | The Secret of the King’s Tomb | 2019 |
| Due, Tananarive | The Reformatory | 2023 |
| Ellroy, James | The Black Dahlia | 1987 02 Jun 2025 |
| Elwes, Cary | As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride | 2014 |
| Fast, Howard | April Morning | 1961 23 Apr 2025 |
| Fast, Howard | Bunker Hill | 2001 13 Jun 2025 |
| Feeney, Alice | Beautiful Ugly | 2025 |
| Flanders, Judith | Christmas: A Biography | 2017 |
| Fleming, Ian | The Man with the Golden Gun | 1965 28 Apr 2025 |
| Forsythe, Frederick | The Day of the Jackal | 1971 28 Feb 2025 |
| Garfield, Simon | The Error World: An Affair with Stamps | 2008 07 Aug 2025 |
| Garfield, Simon | To the Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing | 2013 17 Sep 2025 |
| Giesbrecht, Jennifer | The Monster of Elendhaven | 2019 30 Sep 2025 |
| Gogol, Nikolai | Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka | 1832 9 Feb 2025 |
| Golden, Christopher | All Hallows | 2023 |
| Goldman, William | The Princess Bride | 1973 |
| Goodwin, Robert | América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898 | 2019 |
| Graham, Scott | Canyonlands Carnage | 2021 |
| Grant, Kimi Cunningham | The Nature of Disappearing | 2024 |
| Gynther, Dana | Crossing on the Paris | 2012 26 Jan 2025 |
| Haley, Alex | Roots | 1976 15 Mar 2025 |
| Hanff, Helene | 84, Charing Cross Road | 1970 11 May 2025 |
| Harrow, Alix E. | The Once And Future Witches | 2020 |
| Hendrix, Grady | How To Sell A Haunted House | 2023 |
| Herbert, Frank | Dune | 1965 |
| Hillerman, Anne | Shadow of the Solstice | 2025 19 Jul 2025 |
| Hoffman, Carl | The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World… via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes | 2010 11 May 2025 |
| Holmes, Rupert | Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide | 2023 14 Jan 2025 |
| Ibañez, Isabel | What the River Knows | 2023 31 Jan 2025 |
| Ibañez, Isabel | Where The Library Hides | 2024 |
| Iglesias, Gabino | The House of Bone and Rain | 2024 |
| Jackson, Lee | Dickensland: The Curious History of Dickens’s London | 2023 |
| Jewell, Lisa | None Of This Is True | 2023 10 May 2025 |
| Jones, Stephen Graham | The Buffalo Hunter Hunter | 2025 29 May 2025 |
| Juster, Norman | The Phantom Tollbooth | 1961 30 Sep 2025 |
| Kaufman, Bel | Up the Down Staircase | 1965 25 May 2025 |
| Korelitz, Jean Hanff | The Plot | 2021 31 Mar 2025 |
| Korelitz, Jean Hanff | The Sequel | 2024 8 Apr 2025 |
| Lagatree, Kirsten M. | Checklists for Life | 2019 6 Jan 2025 |
| LaValle, Victor | Lone Women | 2023 |
| Lawhon, Ariel | Flight of Dreams | 2016 10 Sep 2025 |
| le Carré, John | The Looking Glass War | 1965 27 Feb 2025 |
| Litteken, Erin | The Lost Daughters of Ukraine | 2023 18 May 2025 |
| MacDonald, John D. | A Deadly Shade of Gold | 1965 |
| Malerman, Josh | Incidents Around The House | 2024 |
| Mask, Diedre | The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power | 2020 29 Sep 2025 |
| Merloski, Jason | Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading | 2017 16 Jan 2025 |
| Miller, Joanna | The Eights | 2025 |
| Moreno-Garcia, Silvia | The Bewitching | 2025 |
| Morley, Christopher | Parnassus On Wheels | 1917 |
| Morley, Christopher | The Haunted Bookshop | 1919 |
| Okungbowa, Suyi Davies | Lost Ark Dreaming | 2024 16 Aug 2025 |
| Paul, Steve (ed.) | Kansas City Noir | 2012 |
| Pennington, Amy | Apartment Gardening: Plants, Projects, and Recipes for Growing Food in Your Urban Home | 2011 2 Feb 2025 |
| Preston, Douglas and Lincoln Child | Badlands | 2025 14 Aug 2025 |
| Pynchon, Thomas | The Crying of Lot 49 | 1966 17 Jan 2025 |
| Rätsch, Christian & Claudia Müller-Ebeling | Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide | 2006 |
| Ruppenthal R. J. | How to Grow Potatoes: Planting and Harvesting Organic Food From Your Patio, Rooftop, Balcony, or Backyard Garden | 2012 20 Jun 2025 |
| Salinger, J. D. | The Catcher in the Rye | 1951 27 May 2025 |
| Sanderson, Brandon | Tress of the Emerald Sea | 2023 12 Aug 2025 |
| Shaffer, Meg | The Lost Story | 2024 |
| Shao, Jasmine | Study With Me: Effective Bullet Journaling Techniques, Habits, and Hacks To Be Successful, Productive, and Organized | 2019 02 Jan 2025 |
| Shine, A. M. | The Watchers | 2021 |
| Shors, John | Cross Currents | 2011 25 Aug 2025 |
| Smith, Emma | Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers | 2022 07 Jul 2025 |
| Standiford, Les | The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens’s a Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits | 2008 |
| Stout, Rex | The Doorbell Rang | 1965 31 Jul 2025 |
| Thoreau, Henry David | The Illustrated Walden | 1854 27 Jul 2025 |
| Verne, Jules | The Mysterious Island | 1874 26 Feb 2025 |
| Williams, Lucinda | Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You | 2023 07 Mar 2025 |
| Williams, Shanora | Whispers of the Lake | 2025 08 Mar 2025 |