2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Time to update with the 2015 list! I'm planning to read 75 books, featuring the books I haven't read on the BBC and Rory Gilmore reading lists:

Have already started

1 Don QuixoteDon Quixote, by Cervantes

So, continuing with the Rory Gilmore list, in alphabetical order, one title per letter:

2 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
3 Babe: The Gallant Pig
4 Candide
5 Daughter of Fortune
6 Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol 1, 1884-1933
7 Fahrenheit 451
8 Galápagos
9 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
10 I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie
11 The Joy Luck Club
12 Lady Chatterley's Lover
13 The Manticore
14 The Naked and the Dead
15 Old School
16 The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition
17 Quattrocento
18 The Razor's Edge
19 Sacred Time
20 Tender Is the Night
21 The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
22 The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age
23 War and Peace
24 The Yearling

BBC list:

25 The Lord of the Rings
26 Birdsong
27 The Time Traveler's Wife
28 The Grapes of Wrath
29 The Wind in the Willows
30 Anna Karenina
31 The Alchemist
32 The Kite Runner
33 Captain Corelli's Mandolin
34 Memoirs of a Geisha
35 The Da Vinci Code
36 One Hundred Years of Solitude
37 A Prayer for Owen Meany
38 Far from the Madding Crowd
39 The Handmaid's Tale
40 Atonement
41 Life of Pi
42 A Suitable Boy
43 The Shadow of the Wind
44 Love in the Time of Cholera
45 Of Mice and Men
46 The Secret History
47 The Lovely Bones
48 On the Road
49 Midnight's Children
50 Notes from a Small Island

Plus 25 others, probably all by P.G. Wodehouse and Emmuska Orczy!

Ten days into the new year, and it's time for an update. I've read five books.

From Rory:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

From BBC:

Of Mice and Men

My own selections:

Envious Casca
A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Continuing with

Don Quixote

And have started

Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners

Say I'm going to do the Read Harder challenge, too. This is what I have so far, working from the 50 titles I've already selected:

1. A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25

The Naked and the Dead

2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65

Lord of the Rings

3. A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
4. A book published by an indie press
5. A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

6. A book by a person whose gender is different from your own

Of Mice and Men

7. A book that takes place in Asia

Memoirs of a Geisha

8. A book by an author from Africa
9. A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
10. A microhistory
11. A YA novel
12. A sci-fi novel

Fahrenheit 451


13. A romance novel
14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade

The Goldfinch

15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)

16. An audiobook

Don Quixote

17. A collection of poetry
18. A book that someone else has recommended to you
19. A book that was originally published in another language

Anna Karenina

20. A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind (Hi, have you met Panels?)

21. A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
22. A book published before 1850

Candide

23. A book published this year
24. A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)

I like your idea of breaking up your reading into the different challenges and your own selections. What did you think of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood?

I have mixed feelings about the Ya-Ya sisterhood. First of all, having worked my way through A Southern Belle Primer, Or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be A Kappa Kappa Gamma, and We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle, Some Day You'll Thank Me for This: The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Being a "Perfect" Mother I'm a little fed up with eccentric Southern ladies and their books.

Also, I got the feeling that I'm supposed to be charmed and delighted with Vivi, and I'm supposed to identify with Sidda, but honestly, I thought Sidda was a whiny pain in the ass, and as for Vivi ... holy moly.

I can see how that would get a little predictable. It's too bad that you weren't able to relate to the characters, though.

It might be that I didn't have enough background on them. The book left me with so many questions, like what was up with Vivi's mother/Sidda's brother/father? I didn't read the first book--would that have helped, or is it supposed to be mysterious?

I'm going to do the Read Harder challenge, too. This is what I have so far, including as many of the 50 titles I've already selected:

1. A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25

The Naked and the Dead (Rory)

2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65

The Lord of the Rings (BBC)

3. A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)

Flappers and Philosophers

4. A book published by an indie press

SwitchFlipped

5. A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Rory; completed in January)

6. A book by a person whose gender is different from your own

Of Mice and Men (BBC; completed in January)

7. A book that takes place in Asia

Memoirs of a Geisha (BBC)

8. A book by an author from Africa

A Guest Of Honour

9. A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)

Half-Breed

10. A microhistory

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

11. A YA novel

The Fault in Our Stars

12. A sci-fi novel

Fahrenheit 451 (Rory)


13. A romance novel

The Princess Bride

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade

The Goldfinch

15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)

Macbeth

16. An audiobook

Don Quixote (Rory; completed in January)

17. A collection of poetry

Lays of Ancient Rome

18. A book that someone else has recommended to you

Imperial Spain, 1469-1716

19. A book that was originally published in another language

Anna Karenina (BBC)

20. A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher

21. A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)

Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary

22. A book published before 1850

Candide (Rory)

23. A book published this year

All the Light We Cannot See

24. A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

I can't even begin to describe how much I dislike Empire of Cotton. If it weren't for this list, I'd totally bail.

Still hating Empire of Cotton. Maybe it's the narrator, because I'm listening to the audiobook. He sort of sounds like a newscaster, energetic without conveying any understanding of the text.

So bogged down by Empire of Cotton and Midnight's Children that I sneaked in a quick Babe: The Gallant Pig mostly because I wanted to finish another book before the end of the month.

OK, it's February 1, and I've read 11 books of the 75 I decided to read in 2015:

1. Of Mice and Men
2. Envious Casca
3. A Cordiall Water
4. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
6. Emily Post
7. Don Quixote
8. Duplicate Death
9. The Fellowship of the Ring
10. Candide
11. Babe: The Gallant Pig

OK, it's the first of March, and time for my challenge update. I read eight books in February:

12. Midnight's Children
13. The Plagiarist
14. Empire of Cotton: A Global History
15. Sisters of Fortune: America’s Caton Sisters at Home and Abroad
16. The Wind in the Willows
17. The 39 Steps
18. Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck
19. Diary of a Pilgrimage

Time for the April update! I read nine books in March:

20. The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad (loved it!)
21. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (It was OK)
22. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies (loved it!)
23. The Manticore, Robertson Davies (loved it!)
24. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (it was OK)
25. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence (hated it!)
26. The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham (loved it!)
27. The Alchemist, Paolo Coelho (hated it!)
28. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (hated it!)

Thought I'd post my edited list, with the books read subtracted.

1 Daughter of Fortune
2 Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol 1, 1884-1933
3 Galápagos
4 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
5 I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie
6 The Naked and the Dead
7 Old School
8 The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition
9 Quattrocento
10 Sacred Time
11 Tender Is the Night
12 The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
13 The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age
14 War and Peace
15 The Yearling
16 Birdsong
17 The Time Traveler's Wife
18 The Grapes of Wrath
19 Anna Karenina
20 The Kite Runner
21 Captain Corelli's Mandolin
22 Memoirs of a Geisha
23 The Da Vinci Code
24 A Prayer for Owen Meany
25 Far from the Madding Crowd
26 The Handmaid's Tale
27 Atonement
28 Life of Pi
29 A Suitable Boy
30 The Shadow of the Wind
31 Love in the Time of Cholera
32 The Secret History
33 The Lovely Bones
34 On the Road
35 Notes from a Small Island
36 Flappers and Philosophers
37 SwitchFlipped
38 Memoirs of a Geisha (BBC)
39 A Guest Of Honour
40 Half-Breed
41 The Fault in Our Stars
42 The Princess Bride
43 The Goldfinch
44 Macbeth
45 Lays of Ancient Rome
46 Imperial Spain, 1469-1716
47 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher
48 Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary
49 All the Light We Cannot See
50 I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

You have so many of my favourites on your list. I look forward to seeing what you think of them.

Thanks! Right now I'm reading A Prayer for Owen Meany, and I love it.

May update. Seven books. I blame Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I've been ignoring my reading list because I thought One Hundred Years of Solitude was such a tedious bore. I decided to read some enjoyable books as a palette-cleanser. So I read a bunch of English mysteries, as well as one or two more worthy books. Well, one, anyway. See if you can spot it.

Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer
The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy by James Anderson
The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
Buried for Pleasure By Edmund Crispin
Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edmund Crispin

June update. I have fallen so far off the wagon it's not funny. Still blaming One Hundred Years of Solitude. I read only 8 books in May, and only one from my book challenge list.

The Affair of the Mutilated Mink by James Anderson
Tea With Tracey: The Woman's Survival Guide To Bermuda by Tracey Caswell
The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks by James Anderson
The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham
Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham
Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham
A Prayer for Owen Meanyby John Irving

Oof. Have spent the past three+ months reading Margery Allingham mysteries and book club picks. Started The Handmaid's Tale and immediately became depressed.

Have read:

Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham
Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham
Flowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham
The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham
The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham
Traitor's Purse by Margery Allingham
More Work for the Undetaker by Margery Allingham
The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham
Parker Pine Investigates by Agatha Christie
Coroner's Pidgin by Margery Allingham
Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
The China Governess by Margery Allingham
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore
Capital Dames: the Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868 by Cokie Roberts

And, from my list:
All the Light We Cannot See

Just finished On the Road and really disliked it. I finally met a 1950s male who is even more annoying than Holden Caulfield. In fact, I met two--Sal and Dean. UGH.

This book challenge is so hard. Rory Gilmore, why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?

Oh no! Characters MORE annoying than Holden Caulfield? Morbid curiosity makes me want to read it.

The Rory Gilmore book list is so long; do you plan on reading them all someday? I look at it and find it daunting...

I adore Rory Gilmore, but yeah that reading list is STEEP.

Haha! That's the perfect description. I feel like it would take a decade to plow through that. And at the end, I'd be stuck with all the ones I was avoiding. :)

I know, right? That's why I picked my titles in alphabetical order. Because yeah, I'd gobble down all the 19th century novels first, leaving myself with a bunch of depressing whiny modernist shit to plow through.

Also ... just throwing this out there ... I find myself wondering whether these books pass the test of time. I mean, some of these were huge best sellers at the time the show was on, and maybe some of them are flashes in the pan.

Another thing ... perhaps I should give myself permission to skip some of the more plot-derived titles, like the journalism and travel books, since I doubt I'll ever become a journalist or go to Europe with my grandmother. ;-)

Time for my November update! Only five books, but they were choice:

On the Road which was from the BBC list--and which I disliked very much
Fen Country: Twenty-Six Stories Featuring Gervase Fen which I read for fun, although I could count it towards my Read Harder Challenge if I made it my collection of short stories
Far from the Madding Crowd from the BBC list, which was surprisingly undepressing, for a Thomas Hardy novel
Notes from a Small Island from the Rory Gilmore list, which started off promising and devolved into a sort of whining, "preserve all the old buildings, you dumb Brits" rant
The Goldfinch which satisfied the Read Harder challenge for a book that won the Booker or Pulitzer prize in the last decade, and which I really, really liked.

Have started A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Rory), Tender Is the Night (Rory) and The Fault in Our Stars (Read Harder challenge: A YA novel)

How many books have you read this year? It looks like you've gotten most of the way through your lists!

Not at all! I've read 71, so will probably make my challenge, but I'm keeping my unread books from this year and making them the basis of next year's challenge.

That's a great way to do it! I'm making 2016 the year of getting through my piles of books on my bookshelf. :)

Oh, I'd have a fabulous list if it consisted of Books I've Bought But Not Read!

All right, Poppy! I spent some serious time reviewing the Rory Gilmore list, and I think I'm going to join you on this massive quest. It will probably take me multiple years, but I think it'll be worth it.

I agree that many of these books might not pass the test of time, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth reading. I'll just be certain to take notes on which ones are worth returning to and which aren't.

Thanks for the brilliant idea! :)

Good for you, Jackie! I've discovered a lot of books that I adored. Off the top of my head: Candide, Don Quixote, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Yearling.

(Of course, looking at some of the books on the list leaves me with a sinking feeling, but if I just read what I liked, what's left of my brain would atrophy!)

Before I head over to my 2016 list, I thought I'd post a December 2015 update. In December I read nine books:

The Fault in Our Stars (Read Harder Challenge--YA novel)
The Yearling (Rory)
The Chimes, by Charles Dickens
Fun Home (Read Harder Challenge--graphic novel)
Fool, by Christopher Moore
The Serpent of Venice, by Christopher Moore
A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius (Rory)
If Walls Could Talk (Haunted Home Renovation Mystery, #1)
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant (Fred, the Vampire Accountant, #1)