2025 Reading Challenge discussion

My goal last year was 40 and I surprisingly exceeded that goal by reading 60 books (+ 2 short stories). A feat I did not think I was capable of.
While the competitiveness of hitting that goal was fun, I think I want to relax this year and try to crack into the books that I skipped previously because of their length or content.
I passed over Stephen King's The Stand and Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind because of their length. I passed over books like The Overstory and works by Haruki Murakami because I knew they would require more time and focus than I was willing to give in order to reach my goal.
There are so many books on my physical shelf that have yet to open!
I almost thought to bring my goal much further down but I *think* this is a totally doable goal while still being able to pick up those chonky tomes I've been so eager to break into.

Happy reading ya'll!

Loving your honest approach to reading good luck this year!

My New Year's wish for you is many an hour happily spent pursuing your goals for 2024 of reading the big tomes or foreign literature. May your adventures bring you joy, happiness, satisfaction, and new favorites.

January:

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
Phenomenal. If every non-fiction held me like this one did I would read more non-fiction. This was on my list since it's release and I'm so glad it was my first book completed for the year. I feel like this set me out into the 2024 year on a high note and gave me hope for a killer reading year.
Absolutely fascinating and insightful. A must read in my opinion.

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko
I had this on my list for a long time at my local library and honestly I checked it out months ago but kept renewing my hold until one day, I actually began reading.
The structure was not one that I would normally like but it works here, and it makes sense why it is, the way it is. I was so confused but I also couldn't really stop reading and in part, again, the way this was structured - kind of forces the reader to keep going.
But when I stopped, it took effort to jump back in.
I liked this, but I also don't think this was for me. But I'm really glad I finally read this.

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Holy moly this was good. I mean GOOD ya'll.
I can absolutely tell that this is going to be one of my favorite authors this year. And for once, the STUNNING cover actually contained a beautifully written story from beginning to end. The minutes that pass since I've finished this little nugget of awesomeness just bring me more and more joy as I think about this book. I loved it. Fucking loved it.

February:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Oooh my goodness did I get sucked in IMMEDIATELY! Hilarious, fast paced and so incredibly fun! I had been in a serious reading slump and could not get motivated to read anything. This book changed that.

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
I've been wanting to read this author for a few months now and I stumbled upon this one at Bookoff. Still feeling slumpy, this wasn't intimating with it's shorter page count. I enjoyed the reading experience of this one but I can say (weeks later as I write this) I don't remember much of it and honestly can't remember the main characters name...huh, interesting. I want to read Abercrombie's heavier/adult works as I have a feeling they'll be more my speed. The stakes weren't high enough and the characters too forgettable for me to get really invested.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
I could not WAIT to get into this one! ART (also my old department name) was my absolute fave. I loved the relationship between ART and Murderbot and I really hope we get to spend time with ART in later books. LOVED IT!

March:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Yo. I tell you I've been wanting to read this soo bad for sooo long. I started it...late last year? But it was so dense and slower paced I didn't always want to pick it up but I thought about it, a lot. Hit a major slump at the beginning of the year but found the joy and strangeness in this again in February. I very easily could have binged the second half but I wanted to pay attention, I wanted to take my time. Surprisingly brutal at times, I really had no idea what to expect. Overall weird, but I really liked it. I'm not mad that I have 2 beautiful editions of this novel on my shelf.

The Expert System's Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I reaaallly wanted this one to be as good if not better than Elder Race.
I was disappointed. It was just kind of boring and I didn't care about anyone. Maybe fleshed out into a novel this would have been a winner for me? I'm not holding this against the author though. I have Children of Time and Cage of Souls on my shelf and I absolutely will crack into at least one of them this summer.
I think this particular story just wasn't for me.

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
YEeeeSSsss moooree Muurrdderrrbooottt.
Look. I love this series. I'm completely 100% down to read every book in this series. I love it like I loved the Green Mile back in the day when it released in little novellas.

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
We're getting deeper ya'll. Murderbot is changing and I'm soo ready to see how things continue to evolve in the next installments.
I do still miss ART though. Someone tell me if ART comes back! *cries* lol

When I joined Goodreads I was just getting back into the habit of reading after a decades long hiatus, so I started out with a very cautious goal of 12 books. But then when I surpassed it thrice, I went into my second year headlong with the outmost competitive dedication - which was fine, it was a fun year. But I quickly discovered it wasn't how I wanted to approach my reading. Which is why every year since, my official goal on Goodreads is one book, all the while knowing I'll probably hit the +50 book-mark throughout the year.

My point is, while it's nice to push oneself and get caught up in the competitiveness of reading x-many books in a year. It's also really liberating and relaxing to read however many just because that's what you feel like :)

I hope you continue to have an amazing reading journey in 2024, because it looks as though you're off to a great start so far :)
Have fun and happy reading!

Wow - I really abandoned this, lol.
Let's see what I remember from this year of reading :)
I'm at 38 currently - not counting 2 short stories...

Here we go -

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
I had fun reading this, but it's honestly not that good. Especially when compared to other fantasies I read later in the year. At one point he repeated the same exact description of an action two different characters made and it was like 4 pages in between. It made me stop, flip back those pages because I thought it was a me problem. Nope. It's just no distinction between characters. The ending was absolutely killer though so I do want to keep reading the series....

Network Effect by Martha Wells
I don't remember what happened here but I know I had a good time reading it.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Hooo boi this is where shit get's really good. I expected a lot from this one and it delivered. Dark and violent. I liked it A LOT.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
I needed something lighter while I was reading Abercrombie and this fit the bill perfectly. This was completely charming, and I immediately watched the show when I was finished. I really should read more of this author. I'm sure I'll be just as enamored.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
I shouldn't have read this one in the order that I did because this one knocked me off the Murderbot train. I didn't understand where the heck we went back to or why.

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I wanted to like this reeeaall bad. I wanted this to be dark and smoky. I wanted this to have atmosphere! Sadly, it did not and fell flat for me. I really want to like this author but I don't know what it is about her characters...I just don't care about them.

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
I think I liked this one the best. It was a bloody good time.

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
There's nothing amazing about this one, it's just a good book. It's a good story with good characters and I had a good time reading it. I like this setting and it makes me want to read more books like it. I would definitely be on the lookout for the next installment.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
I honestly hated this and it greatly disappointed me. I waited a long time to get my hands on this and I was into it A LOT at the beginning. But this author lost me with her writing. I don't believe for a second that she knows what she's writing about.

11/22/63 by Stephen King
I wanted to read this for a long time but I was intimidated by it's length. I'm sure others would agree - she's a beast. It certainly didn't feel quite so large once you were in it. I really liked this even if I didn't completely love the love story.

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
So, so good. I could not believe what I was reading as we made it to the end. I was not ready and am still anxious to get into this author's stand alones now.

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
I am and will likely always be a sucker for most Peter Pan retellings. This was far more violent than I was expecting, but I really liked it. I could read a whole series of this. I imagine her Alice in Wonderland book is trippy as hell.

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk
Beautiful cover got me again. I bought this new because I think I had a giftcard...I should have bought something else. Most of these stories were okay but nothing quite dark or meaningful enough to remember.

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Oooh how I wanted this to be good. I was not into this writing style. Again, a beautiful cover drew me in but left me wanting.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
This started off really strong but then became really predictable and forgettable. A part of me would be curious to see if the second book is better but it's not at the top of my list.

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
My first time reading this author and I could not put this down. I was so excited to read this and I basically blew through it in a day which is not like me at all.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
I am someone who found Ninth House to be completely boring so I went into this one with little hope. Ended up loving it. I thin k the setting and time period just worked for me. I'd like a second part to this one for sure.

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
Ohh this author is unlike any other I've ever read. I think if this story was written by a different author, I wouldn't have enjoyed it, I wouldn't have been so riveted. Absolutely devastating but not in the same way as A Little Life. This author is an auto buy for me, 100%.

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin
I've got nothing to say here except that I love this author and everything she writes.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
I wanted more from this. I'm a big fan of this author and I think this was one of her weaker stories.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
What a disappointment! After LOVING My Best's Friends Exorcism, I went into this very excited. I was ready for a good time but with vampires and books but instead I got a boring, mediocre story about a bunch of terrible husbands and WEAK women. Hated it.

Gallant by Victoria E. Schwab
My first time reading this author and I think I started at a good place. I'm interested in reading more of her adult works as this leaned middle grade-ish to me.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Oh Hamnet, I loved you.
This - this book got me out of a slump of bad books and brought me back to what I love so much about reading. Completely engrossing and heartbreaking. I could not put this down. This author is 100% an auto buy for me now.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King
As I started reading this I felt this wave of nostalgia. This felt like when I was a teenager and I was getting lost in King and Koontz stories. I'm almost certain I read this before but who knows. Strange and a little disorienting, I wouldn't recommend this for a first time King reader. I hear that the second book picks up immediately where we left off and that makes me excited about moving forward into the depths of this series.

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
A fine little murder mystery but doesn't hold a candle to The Silent Companions. I wanted creepy, I wanted suspense. Sadly, this did not deliver. I imagine someone reading this author for the first time and liking this one.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Ah yes, another dud to add to my list of mediocre reads in 2024. This should have been right up my alley. Everything about this should have been a story I'd eat right up. Nope! I honestly should have just DNF'd this one but I really wanted to like it. The "love" story that developed in here was cringe and completely unnecessary.

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan
Okay so the title is misleading buuut this was still good. A solid 3.5 for me. I enjoyed the setting, character and atmosphere. I was glad that I picked this up.

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio
I did not enjoy the first time I read this author so I thought I'd pick this up and see if a little novella was more my speed. I think the 3.2 rating on goodreads is appropriate for this. Middle of the road, good but not great. I'm not sure I actually like this author...

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Ya'll are absolutely out of your minds. This? This is the best fantasy novel you've ever read? No.
I don't believe you. You need to read more fantasy my friend because this was boring. I understand it's an introduction but so was The Blade Itself and that was stellar so no, this was not good and the more I think about it, the more I'm put off by it being so praised as it is. I could not read more than 10-15 pages at a time because I would LITERALLY FALL ASLEEP.
I'm not listening to any of ya'll anymore. Liars lol.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Ahhh yes, this is what I needed from Kingfisher. I was not familiar with the Grimm's story so I went into this one a little blindly, and I loved it.

Annnd I made it to 41 with
System Collapse by Martha Wells
I could not let this series hang around into the new year. It would have been wrong not to catch up before the end of the year after walking away from this series for too long. Soon as it was over, I felt the need to revisit the series from the start. I would not recommend waiting to read this one after Network Effect. I'm still not sure I understand why this isn't the 6th book, not Fugitive Telemetry...


Anyway, I made it! I needed a handful of short books to make it, but they still count lol.

M wrote: "Wow - I really abandoned this, lol..."

It seems to be a theme for 2024 😂. 2025 will be better!
Congratulations on reaching your goal.

Here's to a fantastic 2025!