2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I've been agonizing over the number of books to set my goal at for the past month or so.

I finally decided to dive in and try to set a new personal record at a major milestone - 150 books! We'll see how the year goes. Since I'm graduating from college this spring, I don't know what effect that life change will have on my reading, so that goal could change over time.

2016 Reading Statistics

Genre
Mystery: 10
Fantasy: 50
Science Fiction: 21
Historical Fiction: 6
Horror: 3
Autobiography/Memoir: 10
Nonfiction: 9
Realistic Fiction: 12

Type
Novel: 94
Novella: 3
Poetry:
Comic/Graphic Novel: 16
Essay/Short Story Collection: 4
Play: 1
Photography/Art Collection: 1

Owned or Borrowed?
Library: 74
Owned: 47

Format
Paperback: 44
Hardback: 40
eBook: 38
Audiobook:

Year Published
2010s: 63
2000s: 26
1990s: 10
1980s: 11
1970s: 3
1960s: 2
1950s: 2
1940s:
1930s:
1920s:
1910s:
1900s:
Pre-1900s: 4

Books by Month
January: 14
February: 11
March: 10
April: 11
May: 12
June: 15
July: 9
August: 11
September: 9
October: 6
November: 5
December: 8

December Planned Reading
Half of a Yellow Sun (buddy read)
Invisible Planets: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese SF in Translation (advent calendar)
The Best American Short Stories 2016 (advent calendar)
The Wandering Earth (advent calendar)

Good luck Cassandra.

Good luck, Cassandra, now that's a goal! I will follow your progress over the year, I always like reading your reviews (and I won't forget you're the one whose review convinced me to read the beautiful Ready Player One).

Thank you for the luck! I'm glad that you enjoyed Ready Player One so much and hopefully you'll find something just as good on my list this year. :)

I'm still a little nervous about the goal I set, but I'm going to stick with it. I think I'll end up reading around 145 books by the end of 2015, so if I can just keep up my pace I'll be fine.

Good luck :)! And I think you can definitely do it.

Thanks Zita! :)

You got this, Cassandra! Do you count the books you read for school to this list? I know some people do and some don't; either way I'd love to know why as well.

I don't really have much reading for school - most of our work is project-based. And since I'm in information technology and the information changes so quickly, the professors prefer to refer us to specific articles that they think are relevant, so I don't have a textbook to use toward my goal.

Good Luck Cassandra, i am sure you will do great the good thing about this group is the challenges make the numbers go up quick

Cassandra wrote: "The professors prefer to refer us to specific articles that they think are relevant..."

That's actually really smart on their part. I wish the world of music education thought the same thing. Information changes quickly everywhere! But the most in IT, I'm sure.

Well, good luck on both school and your challenge. I know you'll make it. :)

Thank you both! This group definitely helps keep me motivated. :)

That's a great goal, Cassandra! I wish you good luck with reading so many books during the next year, and I hope you won't mind if I make use of your "Books by month" listing. ;)

Good luck Cassandra! This year I also set up planned reads, I already had plenty buddy reads, so I figured I might forget if I didn't write them down.

Looking forward to see what you read and your ratings. I will probably get some great books to add to my TBR (because it needs that :P )

Yeah, go for it! I keep borrowing things from other members too. I know I have some months where I read more than others, so it will be interesting to see.

Then, some statistics that weren't terribly interesting I decided to do away with this year.

I like the new statistics, like books by month !

I like the idea of keeping track month by month too, might start doing that in my diary - I keep a yeraly list, have been for years but a monthly one is a great idea.
I need to update goodreads as well, I have been a member for years but I rarely update it so it looks like this year I read 29 books when it's actually a bit over 60.

Your goal is fantastic, it's great to aim high and you can definitely do it if you have read 145 so far in 2015!

Thank you, Violaine! Feel free to borrow or adapt any of the things I do in this topic.

Book #1
Without Fail by Lee Child.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished January 1, 2016
416 pages.

I liked this one, but not as much as other Lee Child books. The star of the show here was Neagley, not Reacher. The suspense was fairly constant throughout the book, but the ending was a big letdown. The unmasked villains just weren't very believable. Also, the fun of a Jack Reacher book is watching him fight and outsmart various bad guys, but there wasn't a lot of either of those in this book. It was still a fast-paced, enjoyable read, though.

Categories: Mystery, novel, owned, paperback, 2000s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Every Year, Box Set.

Congrats on completing your first book on January 1!

Thank you, Megan!

I noticed you have Leviathan Wakes on your 2016 TBR list. I LOVED that book and I hope you enjoy it too!!!

congrats on your first book !

Thank you! I've been meaning to read Leviathan Wakes for a long time. I hope I enjoy it as much as you do. :)

Book #2
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished January 2, 2016
207 pages

My feelings about this book were unfortunately mixed. On one hand, I really enjoyed the story and I like Jon Krakauer's journalistic style. I especially appreciated the way he explained discrepancies between his original article in Outside magazine and the way his conclusions about Alex/Chris McCandless's death changed after more extensive research. I loved the parts about Alex/Chris and his interactions with others on his extensive hitchhiking travels. However, while this is a short book, it actually had a lot of things that had nothing to do with Alex/Chris - other people who died after walking into the wilderness and even Krakauer's own climbing story. I wanted to know more about Alex/Chris, and there was a conspicuous lack of conclusions from his family. Altogether a great story, but it seemed a bit unfinished.

Categories: Nonfiction, novel-length, owned, paperback, 1990s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Extremes.

Congratulations on your #2 book! I' m excited to follow your progress throughout the year.

Thank you, Lucija! Good luck with your reading too. :)

Wow! Two books in already?! I'm a bit jealous. Keep up the great work!

I'm so exited to read your reviews! Seems like you and Kara keep reading books I want to read ^^ I borrowed that book by month and what I borrowed last year ;)

Good luck! I hope we get to read more books together in 2016 if they matches ^^

Thank you, Jackie and Winter!

I really enjoyed reading Oryx and Crake with you, so I'm up to read more books this year. Any ideas?

Book #3
The Heist by Janet Evanovich.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished January 4, 2016
295 pages.

This was a super fun book to read. Like Janet's other books, it's not great literature, but that doesn't even matter when you reading about Nick Fox and Kate O'Hare pull off their crazy con. The two main characters felt a little flat to me, unfortunately. I do want to know more about the members of crew they recruit, so hopefully that is covered in future books. I think this is a good book, as long as you know what you're getting into.

Categories: Mystery, novel, owned, hardback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Box Set.

I've never read any Evaonvich, but I'm definitely interested in a fun read. Things are about to get crazy at work, and I could use something a bit more mindless. Where do you recommend I start, with this series?

The Heist is the place to start. She also has another series with a character called Stephanie Plum, but it's super long and I've heard it gets less interesting over time. I've read the first books of the Plum series and would recommend The Heist instead.

Perfect. It was even available via OverDrive. I love libraries. Here goes!

Let me know what you think!

Cassandra wrote: "Thank you, Jackie and Winter!

I really enjoyed reading Oryx and Crake with you, so I'm up to read more books this year. Any ideas?"

Basicly any sci fi or dystopia. We have a lot in common (doing a comparison now). It's pick and choose, ^^

Oryx and Crake was fun. I have hopes for the other two too. I have as you heard many praise those more :)

Book #4
Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings by Michelle Knight.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished January 5, 2016
252 pages.

This is an interesting book to try to rate. I can see why several people have decided not to give this one a star rating. This is because the story is incredible, and Michelle Knight's voice is strong, but the writing quality is fairly poor. I do like the decision to let Michelle direct most of the writing, but I think it could have benefited from a little more editorial oversight - but not so much that her unique voice is lost. For example, there were lots of excerpts from Michelle's journal while she was imprisoned, which was great, but there was very little context for why the particular excerpt was in the particular place it was in. They seemed sort of random. The memoir is very graphic, which is fitting for the horrific subject matter, but isn't for the faint-of-heart.

Categories: Autobiography/memoir, novel-length, owned, ebook, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Extremes.

Good luck with your challenge Cassandra! I really like how you've set up the different categories to track your books through the year- it looks like a great way to take a snapshot of different stats during the year- I might have to steal them one day!

And good luck with your final semester of college!

Thank you, Dana! I appreciate it. And feel free to steal any ideas or tweak them to work for you.

Book #5
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished January 7, 2016
273 pages.

This collection hangs together very well - each of the stories feature the themes of different perceptions from different perspectives, and the characters are older adults. Atwood is a master at quickly establishing a very deep and complex history for each of her characters, then spinning an engaging and thought-provoking tale in a very short amount of time. This book makes me think that I don't read enough fiction about older people. The stories had just enough elements of fantasy to make them feel magical and compelling, but are mostly grounded in a realistic world.

Categories: Fantasy, short story collection, library, hardback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #6
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished January 8, 2016
320 pages.

This is quite the book. I had no idea what to expect when I started it, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is an epic mythology of two powerful beings with conflicting purposes - one who heals, and one who destroys. But that description is too simple, because while both characters embody their archetypes, they also defy them. Doro, the destroyer archetype, is obsessed with creating life through an elaborate breeding program. Anyanwu, the healer, also has a strong capacity to kill, although she uses it rarely. The fantasy elements were interesting and original, but the strength of this book comes from the themes of ethics and slavery that show up in different forms. Unfortunately, my particular edition had several typos and editing mistakes, which was distracting, but the story itself is powerful.

Categories: Fantasy, novel, library, paperback, 1980s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, buddy read.

Good luck with your challenge Cassandra, 6 books read, what a fantastic start for the year!

Thank you, Kiwi! :)

Book #7
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished January 16, 2016
120 pages.

I love the way G. Willow Wilson writes this character - Kamala is goofy and overwhelmed and completely relatable. She deals with all sorts of normal teenager stuff, but also has to contend with her new powers and how that changes thing for her. I liked the Carole Danvers (Captain Marvel) crossover, but thought that Ms. Marvel's foray into The Amazing Spider-Man was pretty lacking. I do want to see what Kamala does when she isn't being involved in a ton of crossovers. The artwork is also awesome again in this volume.

Categories: Fantasy, comic, library, paperback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #8
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished January 16, 2016
513 pages.

When I originally heard about this book, I thought it was historical fiction. When I learned it was nonfiction, I was even more excited for it. I enjoyed the stories of four women who participated in the Civil War - two women on each side of the war, which provided a nice balance. While some of the facts are difficult to prove one way or another - many of the source material is from the ladies' own memoirs - it made for an engaging and mostly plausible story. The major problem with this book is that the perspective cycles through each of the four women, and since they have little common ground to provide a good transition, the style reads as jerky and it takes a minute to remember the details of each setting.

Categories: Nonfiction, novel-length, library, hardback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, TBR twins.

Book #9
Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished January 17, 2016
136 pages.

This came highly recommended to me, but I was a little skeptical because the character Hawkeye doesn't appeal to me that much. Then I opened it up and was a little put off by the art style. As I kept reading, though, I came to like it much more. The art style and the narrative style work together very well. I think that what really sold this one for me, though, were the interactions with Kate Bishop. Like the art and story, they work together very well and I look forward to seeing these characters develop. Barton is hilarious and has plenty of ridiculous ideas to get himself into trouble with, but the story was also unexpectedly poignant in places.

Categories: Fantasy, comic, library, paperback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #10
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished January 24, 2016
241 pages.

I've read quite a bit of dystopia recently, but this one made me think about the post-apocalyptic world differently. The best way I can describe this book is "quiet." There isn't a lot of dialogue, and there are very few people. There is ash in the air that severely limits visibility, so it amplifies the feeling that the man and his son are almost completely alone. This is offset by the fact that there are other people on the road, and those other people don't always have the best interests of the man and the boy in mind. I found it easy for my attention to slide away from reading this book, especially when I was in an area that was loud, but it's worth setting aside some quiet time to really focus.

Categories: Science fiction, novel, library, hardback, 2000s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Listopia.

Book #11
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished January 24, 2016
561 pages.

This was an excellent story. It was extremely entertaining and pretty fast-paced throughout, although the middle did drag a bit compared to the rest. The book blends science fiction, horror, mystery, and a touch of western genres in a really fantastic way. There are some major twists that I didn't see coming at all. This is a space opera that focuses on humanity in our own solar system, which is a time period that isn't usually covered by space opera. This allows the story to focus on humans, rather than any kind of technology - while there is just enough math for the technology not to feel completely made-up, this isn't hard science fiction. The two main characters are great foils of each other. Both are flawed and they see the world in very different ways, which helps to provide depth. I appreciated that the book stands well on its own, but I'm excited to read the next in the series.

Categories: Science fiction, novel, owned, paperback, 2010s, January.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Box Set.

Now I really want to read that book!

Thank you for the updates, Cassandra! So far, 2016 seems like a great reading year for you :)