2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Welcome, new members! Please stop in and introduce yourselves. We're looking forward to getting to know you.

If you don't know where to start, feel free to answer these questions:
- Where are you from?
- What kinds of books do you like to read?
- How did you find our group?
- What's your reading goal?

Hello! It’s so nice to meet all of you ☺️ My name is Naris, and I am from San Diego! I enjoy reading fiction, particularly thriller and romance novels. I am open to reading various genres as well, such as horror and fantasy, which are more outside my comfort zone! I was looking for a 2025 reading challenge, and I want to push myself to read more consistently this year. My goal is to read at least one book a month.

hi 👋🏻 I'm Vicky from North East, England. I have been struggling in 2024 to read as much as I did in 2023 so I thought I challenge where I can interact with others might help, I also love getting new ideas for books and genres I've not read before. I love fantasy, thriller and horror. my aim is 70 books for the year

Hello! I was an active member about 10 years ago, but I had to take a break from updating because of life. I enjoy reading pretty much everything except erotica, test prep, and self-help books. I am from the Chicago area of the United States. My goal is going to be 125 in 2025, but I am a freelance writer/ editor, so I normally read a lot of books each year. I also have a goal to write at least 14 of my own mostly mashup books (as opposed to ghostwriting for others), and I am going to track that here, too. I am not counting those toward my 125, though.

Hello! I'm Brittany from Ohio! I love reading fiction and tend to pick up a good enemies to lovers or dark romance. I'm also a sucker for anything fantasy related. I'm of course open to all genres. My goal for 2025 is 200 books. I feel like I've fallen into a bit of a reading slump lately and would like to push myself more in 2025.

Hello. Susan from Pennsylvania. I love reading historical fiction and young adult books. The later basically because I teach ELA and want to introduce new books to my students. My goal is 100 books for this year! Happy New Year and May a good book find its pages turned by you! Happy Reading!!!

Hello! My name is Linda, and I'm from Chicago. I am open to most genres, but I have been trending towards thrillers and romfantasies lately.
Goodreads recommended this group to me, so I'm excited to see how it unfolds. I'm always excited to get new book recommendations. I hope to read 52 books in 2025. Work has gotten a lot busier for me, so I hope to find the time for reading a little every day.

Hello all, my name is Ian and I am from Castle Bromwich just outside Birmingham in the UK. I love reading all types of books however main types are Christian fiction, crime, horror, thriller, romance, family saga and just over a year a go started to get more into sifi and fantacy. I also like studying personal development as well. The only types of books I am not into are biography and auto biography and also not a huge fan of historical books. I am totally blind so mainly read using audio. I've done challenges in the past however always set it up on the main site so getting use to how a challenge like this works as the challenges on the main site it keeps track for you of what your reading so may take a while to get use to doing a challenge in this way as when I tried to do it that way was still coming up with the 2024 reading challenge and would not allow me to set up a 2025 one in the usual way so decided to try this. Looking forward to reading with everyone and making friends. My goal is 110 books throughout the year as I have got busier in the last year so only just met my last one so decided to create a more realistic goal.

Happy New Year from Coastal Georgia, USA. I'm an avid reader, daily for a few minutes if that's all I can squeeze before bed, longer on the best days. 🥰 I'm not picky at all on genre, though I keep finding myself in historical war fiction. I wanted to start a reading challenge this new year and join a group with other book lovers. Help me set a goal for my first challenge?

I am Ryan from West Virginia, USA. I am a voracious reader with tastes ranging from ya to historical fiction to fantasy and from epistolary work to novels. I typically read six books at a time, switching back and forth making notes for each book as I read. I also like listening to book podcasts or music while I read.

This will be my third doing the annual Goodreads challenge, and I think instead of a huge goal like the 100 I did for last year, I am gonna slim it down to 30 or 40.

hello, I am Tennille from Australia. my goal is 50 books again this year. I am a picky reader and give a book 100 pages before I dnf. I had no 5 star reads last year sadly.
my fav genres are romantasy, historical romance, romance and fantasy.

Hello everybody and a Happy New Year to you all. I live in Scotland in the UK and I just love reading. Will read almost anything depending on my mood! Setting my goal for 2025 at 400. Hope I can achieve it.

Hey, my name is Evy and I at the moment I live in Sweden (but I am originally from Belgium and lived in the Netherlands for many years). I love reading just about everything, least of all science-fiction. I also love reading graphic novels. I came across this group because I wanted to get inspired for my 2025 reading challenge.

Namaste Fellas! Your Fellow Bookworm is an Indian and resides in the Northeastern state of India: Assam. She loves reading books which are easy to read and doesn’t have Bombaclasticfantalucious aaaaaa(lol) words . Owing to her inclination towards self improvement and constant leaning, she finds a teacher and an amicable guide in any and every book and even admires those who take refuge under the hostage of such leaders.
She looks forward to completing her set goal of 4×12=48 books by 2026. And oh! She wishes y'all a very blessed and joyous new year.
Hare Krishna

hello everyone. my name is Noorani and I am from Canada. I love reading books especially romance books and love going to cafes and reading them

Ian wrote: "Hello all, my name is Ian and I am from Castle Bromwich just outside Birmingham in the UK. I love reading all types of books however main types are Christian fiction, crime, horror, thriller, roman..."

Welcome to the group, Ian! 👋
I imagine the 2025 Goodreads challenge will be available at some point during the day today on the home page.

110 books sounds like a great goal, and with such an open interest in various genres, I'm sure you'll succeed in the new year. Wishing you all the best on your reading journey.

Happy reading!

Kelly wrote: "Happy New Year from Coastal Georgia, USA. I'm an avid reader, daily for a few minutes if that's all I can squeeze before bed, longer on the best days. 🥰 I'm not picky at all on genre, though I keep..."

Welcome Kelly! 👋
I'm actually a bit unsure whether you need help on how to practically set you personal thread up, or whether you wanted help determining what the goal should be. 🤔

If it's the latter, it's up to you?
I usually recommend starting low, that way you don't get bogged down by quantity over quality, but that's a personal preference. Some people enjoy having the challenge of pushing themselves towards a higher goal. Do whatever works best for you. The good news is that you can always adjust it later, if it's too low or too high.

And if it's the former, I recommend checking out the New Members: Start Here-thread. It provides lots of useful information on how to get started. Otherwise, I can also recommend perusing other member's spaces if you want some inspiration.

Feel free to reach out if you need help or have any questions. 😊
Good luck with your reading goals in the new year!

Happy New year everyone! 🥳👋
We're thrilled to see so many new faces, and to welcome you all to the group! Can't wait to get to know everyone better !

If you have any questions or need help with anything, please don't hesitate to reach out.

May you all have a phenomenal 2025 that is filled with the best reading experiences where you encounter lots of new favorite books.
Happy reading! 📚

Hi everybody 👋🏻 I am Samantha from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 I’m brand new to fantasy and absolutely loving it! Last year was a quiet reading year but I read 91 books in 2023 and I’d love to beat that in 2025. Happy New Year and happy reading 🥳📚

Hi I'm Sue, love losing myself in books. Will try most books but don't like Westerns and SciFi. looking forward to reading and listening to many books this year.

Hi, Samantha and Sue! 👋
Welcome to our community of book enthusiasts!

Wishing you both the best of luck with your respective reading goals. I hope you discover lots of amazing books along the way.

Here's to a great 2025!

Hello everyone!
I am Michelle. I am from the US but I am currently living abroad and teaching English. I read all the time as kid and teenager but stopped once I started university. I’m trying to get back into reading because I have missed books and stories. Movies and TV shows just aren’t the same as a book. I am also learning Ukrainian so I am trying to read books in Ukrainian this year as well.
Happy New Year everyone and here’s to reading many good and interesting books this year 📚📖

Michelle wrote: "Hello everyone!
I am Michelle. I am from the US but I am currently living abroad and teaching English. I read all the time as kid and teenager but stopped once I started university. I’m trying to g..."

Hi Michelle, and welcome back to the realm of books! 👋
How exciting to be learning Ukrainian. Are you using an app to do so? I know a lot of people use Duolingo, but I prefer Memrise.

Good luck on your literary journey in 2025! Wishing you all the best 😊.

Hello. This is Tracey from Maryland. I have been a voracious reader since the age of five ---- over 50 years! I read anything and everything depending on my mood. Most recently, I have been reading the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, along with a compilation of all of the Father Brown mysteries, interspersed with several very good biographical works, including the excellent River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelt's expedition in South America. My goal this year is to read 100 books.

Hello, I’m Sharon from Durham, North East England. I returned to reading last year after a long break raising my family and completed the 2024 reading challenge with 21 books. This year I’ve set my target at 30 books, which should be achievable.

I’m still figuring out my favourite genres but like romance, crime and mystery reads. What I most enjoyed last year was getting into the seasons by reading autumnal and Christmas books.

Hi - I'm Carrie. I'm a 40 year old woman from Ontario, Canada. Trying to get oriented to the group. I'm hoping to participate in some reading challenges that will get me out of my comfort zone. I've also come to a point where I'll finally DNF a book if I don't enjoy it, something I struggled with in my younger years.

Hello everyone, my name is Chiara, I’m from Italy.

2024 was about as fun as getting hit by a truck and I couldn’t even come close to reaching my reading goal, so for this 2025 I’m setting one that is a little more reasonable (a book a week between paper and audio), and joining some challenges to make it even more interesting.
This group seems very active and positive, looking forward to reading with you all!

Hello everyone. I’m Claire, 46 and I live in the North East UK. I love to read but find I don’t get a lot of time to do it. A challenge to myself for 2025 is to find the time before my TBR pile takes over the whole house! I like most genres but always looking for recommendations! I’d like to aim for 20 books this year but hopefully more!

Hello! I am Susan from northeast Massachusetts. A recently retired school librarian, I like reading genres beyond YA - histories, mysteries, regencies. I am in 3 book clubs which push me to read out of my comfort zones. Also love to fall into rabbit holes created by other readers for suggestions. Recently the Captive Reader blog linked an old post by Nancy Pearl and I just picked up three from that list from ILL at my library. As a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (1987), I enjoy new scholarship. My goal is 100 books and I am looking forward to having a record for 2025. Looking forward to see what others are reading and loving!

Tracey wrote: "Hello. This is Tracey from Maryland. I have been a voracious reader since the age of five ---- over 50 years! I read anything and everything depending on my mood. Most recently, I have been reading..."

Welcome to the group, Tracey! 👋and Happy New Year!
Wow! It's awesome and really inspiring that you've maintained your reading habits for so long. I wish I could stick with any hobby for that long 😅.

Here's to an amazing 2025, filled with the best book adventures.
Happy reading!

Sharon wrote: "Hello, I’m Sharon from Durham, North East England. I returned to reading last year after a long break raising my family and completed the 2024 reading challenge with 21 books. This year I’ve set my..."

Hi Sharon, 👋
Welcome back to the realm of books, and also congratulations on reaching your goal this past year. Did you find any books to call favorites?

The journey to figuring out ones favorite genres, is so exciting! I've learned that it's not always simple and cutthroat. As with anything there are always exceptions. Like for instance, I've always said that I love sci-fi, but there are certainly some subgenres and tropes that I enjoy more than others, and some that I steer clear from. But I've also experienced being pleasantly surprised by reading a genre I was adamant I didn't like.

I hope you have a wonderful time exploring new genres, and finding new favorites in 2025. 30 books is a great goal!
Have fun and happy reading!

Hi, I’m Ryan from Nottingham. I used to be a much more avid reader than I am at the minute but I’ve lost track recently. Hoping to get back into it because I really used to enjoy it.

Carrie wrote: "Hi - I'm Carrie. I'm a 40 year old woman from Ontario, Canada. Trying to get oriented to the group. I'm hoping to participate in some reading challenges that will get me out of my comfort zone. I'v..."

Happy New Year, and welcome, Carrie! 👋
It takes a bit of time to get adjusted and find the things in the group, but take your time and don't hesitate to reach out if you need help with anything. 😊

About DNF'ing - it's always something I find interesting, because I was also the person that would get bogged down trudging through a book I wasn't enjoying, simply because. Because what? Completionism? A sense of diligence or respect for the author/work? Don't get me wrong, I still get stuck sometimes in the "It'll get better" or "I'm already hallway /it's only XYZ-pages left" - mentality, because I'm stubborn as hell, but it has gotten much, much better. Once I got a few books under my belt, so to speak, and really, fully internalized time isn't infinite, I was just like "It's fine to DNF - who cares". But my teenage-self could never! 😅

Wishing you a fantastic 2025, with lots of great books, and (hopefully) very few DNFs.
Happy reading!

Chiara wrote: "Hello everyone, my name is Chiara, I’m from Italy.

2024 was about as fun as getting hit by a truck and I couldn’t even come close to reaching my reading goal, so for this 2025 I’m setting one that..."

Welcome Chiara, 👋
Let me tell you, I completely misread the first part of your first sentence, to the point that I was going to ask you how you were holding up after being hit by a truck 😅. Thank goodness that wasn't the case, even though the figurative truck doesn't sound that hot either!
Hopefully 2025 will be more conductive to reading. 😊 And it sounds as though you're all set to kick off the new year in positive spirits.

We've definitely got a bit of everything planned for the new year, so take a look around and join whichever challenge catches your interest. Looking forward to seeing what challenges you'll be joining.
Wishing you all the best on your reading journey!

Happy reading!

Hi! I'm Diane. I'm a 55 year old woman living in Maine in the U.S. I read everything I could get my hands on, and I read it fast when I was a kid. In my late 20's, I developed an issue that resulted in my being unable to process what I read very well. Getting through books took a really long, frustrating time and I read very little until I hit 50 and discovered online access to audiobooks from libraries, Hoopla, and Audible. I can process sound well enough- so I'm back to reading every chance I get! 😁

My favorite fiction genres are: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, Post- Apocalyptic, Horror, and Humor (ex: John Scalzi/ Terry Pratchett). My favorite non-fiction genres are: popular science (ex: Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, etc...), meditation/ mindfulness, history, politics (left), and occasionally, poetry.

I've been enjoying reading everyone's entries and look forward to a great year of reading!

Claire wrote: "Hello everyone. I’m Claire, 46 and I live in the North East UK. I love to read but find I don’t get a lot of time to do it. A challenge to myself for 2025 is to find the time before my TBR pile tak..."

Happy New Year, Claire! 🎆
We're thrilled to have you join our group. I hope you have a phenomenal reading journey, filled with amazing books.

Good luck with your reading challenge in 2025!

Welcome to our group, Susan and Ryan! 👋

I hope you've both had a phenomenal holiday season, and fantastic New Year! Looking forward to seeing where your respective reading journeys lead you.

Good luck with all your reading goals in the new year!
Happy reading!

Diane wrote: "Hi! I'm Diane. I'm a 55 year old woman living in Maine in the U.S. I read everything I could get my hands on, and I read it fast when I was a kid. In my late 20's, I developed an issue that resul..."

Nice to meet you, Diane! 👋
Wonderful news that you're back to your prolific-reading-self!

I'm certain you'll fit right in in our group, with the wide range of gernes that interest you, specially if you enjoy participating in group discussions 😊 .
Feel free to take a look around the group, and join whatever challenges or other activities that pique your interest!

Have fun, and happy reading!

Hello and happy new year to you all! I'm Jasmin from Italy. I am a school librarian and enjoy reading various genres from children books, YA to classics, fiction, historical fiction as well as fantasy and thriller. My reading goal for this year is 61.

Lisa wrote: "Chiara wrote: "Hello everyone, my name is Chiara, I’m from Italy.

2024 was about as fun as getting hit by a truck and I couldn’t even come close to reaching my reading goal, so for this 2025 I’m s..."

Ha! :D Thank you for sharing that Lisa, it actually made me laugh, I guess being literally hit by a truck would’ve taken the prize in the 2024 misfortunes! I’ve been studying this group’s challenges and they’re all very interesting, I think I’ve narrowed it down to a manageable number, I’m curious to try them out, heading over to the member’s corner to set it up.
Wishing you a great 2025 :) Happy reading!

Hi all! Im Monique from North Carolina. I got back into reading last year but slowed down by the end. Its my first time getting into social media and groups with reading but I have been looking for one in a long time. Would love to get into challenges and meet new readers. Maybe can start with 50 books for this year.

Thank you! I think setting a goal was baffling me. I read so fast sometimes and other times I'm reading a few pages a night just to decompress. Just so excited to see all these book lovers and endless book recommendations and reviews! I'll start with 24 and hope to surprise myself in a few weeks! Yay!

Hello, my name is Megan and I’m from Maine. My goal for the new year is to make a habit of reading. So far I’ve enjoyed reading classic stories such as The Wizard of Oz and the books to follow that. Something I’d like to read in the future is retellings or different POVs of classics such as Oz. I’ve also gotten into dark romances and they’ve been a rollercoaster. I found this group through a mutual friend and my goal for 2025 is 25 books.

Hi Im Louise, and I am from New Zealand. I am trying to read every day, and my goal is 50 books. I tried that last year and got to 48. I dont count rereads, which are my comfort reads, so I might add them this year

Hi! I'm Alyssa. I'm 25 year old College Student living in Houston, Texas. I love reading. Doing big books challenges in the past is hard when in school and making time.
My favorite genres are: biography/memoir, romance. adult fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, LGBTQA and health and wellness. I hope for a good year of reading.

Jasmin wrote: "Hello and happy new year to you all! I'm Jasmin from Italy. I am a school librarian and enjoy reading various genres from children books, YA to classics, fiction, historical fiction as well as fant..."

Welcome, Jasmin 👋 and Happy New Year!
Wishing you lots of luck with your goals in 2025. Do you have any reading plans yet?

I hope to see you around in the group. May you have a phenomenal 2025.
Happy reading!

Monique wrote: "Hi all! Im Monique from North Carolina. I got back into reading last year but slowed down by the end. Its my first time getting into social media and groups with reading but I have been looking for..."

Hi Monique! 👋
We're thrilled that you've chosen to join our group. I hope you come to love it as much as the rest of us 😊. We're all really friendly here so I'm certain you'll have no difficulty meeting other members who share your reading interests.

We're leading 15 year-long challenges so there's plenty to choose from. There are also two monthly for January and two for the first quarter of the year, so hopefully there'll be something you're interested in joining. Feel free to look around and reach out if you have any questions.

Good luck with your goal of 50 books. Lovely round number for the new year.
Have fun and happy reading! 📚

Welcome to the group, Megan Marie, Louise and Alyssa! 👋
So happy to have you join us as we enter 2025. Happy New Year to you all ! 🎆

Wishing you ladies all the best on your respective reading journeys. Hopefully they'll be amazing and filled with the best books the year has to offer.
I hope you have fun - Happy reading!

Hello all Kate here from Minnesota. I love reading/listening to books while I work. Typically use the Libby app (local library). So I have two goals: Listen to 100 new (to me) titles in 2025. And physically read a book each month! Hoping this app will help me track it.

Hiya, my name is Nadine, and I live in Colorado, USA. I love mysteries, thrillers, fiction, and biographies. I really want to find my romance niche as well. I'm signed up on Netgalley and BookSprout but haven't ARC'ed anything since the beginning of 2024.

I was a reader growing up, the stereotypical kid in middle school with a high school to college reading comprehension, but after college and having to deal with real adult life and bills, I stopped reading as much. I picked reading back up as a hobby in 2022 and have averaged about 20+ books a year since then.

Something that I feel hinders me from booktok/bookstagram socially is that people might call me a book snob. I have picked up tons of best-selling, award-winning books and hated them. It's a huge reason I stopped doing ARCs because of the expectations of always giving 4-5 stars, while my Goodreads average rating is 3.6.

Feel free to look at my profile; I have books categorized by 3-4 or 5 stars, a DNF list, and a list of my past ARCs. I gladly accept recommendaations! I'm always looking for more book friends, and if it's okay to do a personal social media promo, feel free to add me on Instagram. @Jeeze_Ruiz - I want to start posting reviews again!