2025 Reading Challenge discussion

My 2013 TBR Shelf This currently includes all the books I already know I will be reading for group discussions across Goodreads plus all the books included on each of the challenges listed below. It will be updated as new group discussion books are determined. I will also use this shelf as my first resource for any other challenges and reading games I join in Goodreads groups throughout the year, adding to it if I can't find a book that fits a challenge task or theme, starting with books on my First Priority TBR shelf, which includes books I'm really excited to read, gifts received in 2012, etc.


I take part in a seasonal reading challenge in the Dark Fiction group here on Goodreads, but I draw as many books as possible from titles I'm already reading, so I won't duplicate the list here.



I have noted if a book is included on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die lists, for my own record-keeping convenience.

Goodreads 100 Challenge (2013 Reading Challenge)
Goal: I have read 60/100 from the official Goodreads 100 list. I will read 10 more in 2013.

1. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1001)
2. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie (1001)
3. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
4. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (1001)
5. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway (1001)
6. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami (1001)
7. Beloved - Toni Morrison (1001)
8. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (1001)
9.  The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1001) (reread...read 25 years ago)
10. Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquival (1001)

Read: 8/10

Listopia Challenge (2013 Reading Challenge)
Goal: Read a total of 20 books from Listopia lists of my choice. I'm using 3 lists. I'm allowing myself to choose books that also count for other challenges, but I can't use any book for more than one list on this challenge.

List One: Translated Speculative Fiction
Goal: read 8 more (This will bring me to a total of 25 read from this list, continuing from 2012.)

1. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin (Russia, 1001)
2. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami (Japan, 1001)
3. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (France, 1001)
4. Revenge - Yoko Ogawa (Japan)
5. Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquival (Mexico, 1001)
6. Undine - Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (German)
7. tbd
8. tbd
Alternates: The Woman in the Dunes, Where Europe Begins, Labyrinths, Blindness, Let the Right One In, The Trial, Battle Royale, Death with Interruptions

List Two: Quality Dark Fiction
Goal:  read 8 more (This will bring me to a total of 66 read from this list, continuing from 2012.)

1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. Beloved - Toni Morrison (1001)
3. Duplex - Kathryn Davis
4. The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper
5. The Comfort of Strangers - Ian McEwan
6. The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham (1001)
7. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
8. The Tunnel - Ernesto Sabato

Alternates: Blindsight, The Year of the Flood, High Rise, The Lovely Bones, The Woman in White, Titus Groan, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Blood Meridian, Masks, Blood Child, Battle Royale, The Sinner, Out, Neverwhere, Let the Right One In, Babayaga, Errantry

List Three: Amnesia and Memory Loss Fiction
Goal:  read 4 more (This will bring me to a total of 8 read from this list, continuing from 2012.)

1. Before I Go to Sleep – S. J. Watson
2. The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West (1001)
3. tbd
4. tbd

Read: 13/20

COMPLETED!

The Dewey Decimal Challenge (2013 Reading Challenge)
Goal: I'll be starting with a goal of 6 books chosen from the titles below. * denotes most likely books

READ: 6/6

000-049: Read This!: Handpicked Favorites from America's Indie Bookstores (011) **** 3/14/13
050-099:
100-149:
150-199: Beyond Religion - Dalai Lama XIV (170) **** 10/21/13
200-249:
250-299: Freedom in Exile: the Autobiography of the Dalai Lama (294)
300-349: Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection (302) OR Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives of North Koreans (306)
350-399: The Book of Tea - Kakuzo Okakura (394), OR In Cold Blood (364)
400-449: The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way - Bill Bryson (420) OR The Story of English in 100 Words (422)
450-499: The Riddle of the Labyrinth - Margalit Fox (487)
500-549:
550-599:
600-649: A Book of Bees...and How to Keep Them - Sue Hubbell (638)
650-699:
700-749: Urgent Second Class - Nick Bantock (745)
750-799: A Year in Japan - Kate T. Williamson (759) **** 10/22/13
800-849: Dispatch from the Future: Poems - Leigh Stein (811) **** 1/31/13
850-899: In Search of Duende - Federico Garcia Lorca (868), or What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - H. Murakami (895)
900-949: Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways & Sailors' Wives by David Cordingly (910) *** 8/19/13
950-999: Hungarians in Michigan - Eva V. Huseby-Darvas (977) **** 8/15/13

COMPLETED!

The Members Challenge (2013 Reading Challenge)
Goal: 20 books

READ: 20/20

1. Lilac's Task: young adult book or character grows up in some way - The Alchemy of Stone - Ekaterina Sedia (**** 1/07/13)

2. Kattibrie's Task: character named Catherine or a variation thereof - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan ("Kat" short for Katherine) (***** 1/17/13)

3. Barb's Task: concerning music, art, or a mystery set in PA – Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow (professional musician/pianist main character) (**** 1/26/13)

4. Johanna´s Task: character moves or leaves home - The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper (**** 1/29/13)

5. Alexandra's Task: character makes a career change - A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle (a character changes from being a farmer to being a horse-drawn cab driver in the city, and Dr. Watson moves from his career as a military doctor in Afghanistan to being a convalescing unofficial assistant to Sherlock Holmes in London) (**** 1/30/13)

6. April's task: character coming out of a difficult time yet comes out on top - The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (**** 2/13/13)

7. Gina's Task: involves a psychological issue or a teacher - Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson (**** 2/18/13)

8. Sharon's Task: Read a book that revolves around a family and their life - The Missing Persons League - Frank Bonham (*** 3/17/13)

9. April Lyn's Task: a main character is or has been homeless - Gun Machine - Warren Ellis **** (4.5)

10. Lorelei's Task: read a book involving a legend (or set in Germany, having "legend" in the title or about a shipwreck) - The Drowning Girl - Caitlín R. Kiernan (**** 3/25/13)

11. Karina's Task: read a book that won an award in the 1980s:  Beloved – Toni Morrison (Pulitzer ’88)

12. Sasha's Task: read a book translated from Russian or Japanese: We – Yevgeny Zemyatin (Russian) (**** 4/24/13)

13. Christina's Task: read a book about war/military from the point of view of a loved one left behind: The Return of the Soldier - Rebecca West (**** 4/28/13)

14. Teresa's Task: read a book that takes place somewhere you have lived or visited OR somewhere you would like to visit: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan (I would like to visit Venice, Italy. *** 5/27/13)

15. Cherise's Task: Read a book that involves someone being sick: Quartet In Autumn - Barbara Pym ****

16. Amy's Task: Read a book you keep meaning to read but never get around to: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov ****


17. Diana's Task: Read a book from the genre of Culinary/Foodie fiction: Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown *****

18.  Candiss's Task:  Read a book about Hungary or Hungarian culture or a search for heritage:  Hungarians in Michigan by Eva V. Huseby-Darvas  ****  

19. Georgina's Task: Read one classic crime mystery written by a golden age queen of crime. - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - ***/3.5? - not my favorite Christie

20. Kelsi's Task: Read a nonfiction book that enlightens you or encourages positive change in your life. - Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by Dalai Lama XIV ****