2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I just discovered this group! My goal for 2015 is 100 books and I have already read 52 so far. Although some of them were pretty short and some were re-reads. (I'm still counting them towards my total.)

I'll post an entire list later, but for now I'm only going to post my five-star books so far this year:

The Martian by Andy Weir
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Anatomy of Evil by Will Thomas
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Adopted Jane by Helen Daringer
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

So I had a good reading weekend this past weekend and finished 3 books! I've read a total of 4 more books since my last post, so my total is now at 56 so far for the year. The really great thing is that none of those four were re-reads and two of them were pretty large books, so I'm patting myself on the back :) Here are the four most recent books:

The Ice Twins
The Book of Life
By Book or By Crook
The Knife of Never Letting Go

I'm currently reading:
Bellman & Black
Mrs. Malory Investigates

I finished another book last night: Mrs. Malory Investigates. I loved it! It was a fun read. I'm really excited because this is the first book in a series, so I have another whole series of books to look forward to (along with all the other ones I read plus everything else in my "to-read" pile). I found out about this series through a website called yasiv.com, which is a very cool website. You type in the name of a book you liked and it gives you suggestions for similar books.

Finished #58, The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane. It was very compelling but sad.

Finished #59 over the weekend, The Cruellest Month. It's the second in the Mrs. Malory series by Hazel Holt. I'm loving this series and already ordered the next two books in the series. I also started reading The Fixer by Joseph Finder last night on my Nook, it's good!

Finished The Fixer last night (#60) and read a short Kindle book today, Mr. Darcy's Christmas (#61), which put me in a Jane Austen mood, so I started The Deception at Lyme: Or, The Peril of Persuasion. I'm hoping to finish Bellman & Black and Do or Diner this weekend.

Great job, Catherine! I'm glad you found the group and have been reading lots of books for your challenge.

Cassandra wrote: "Great job, Catherine! I'm glad you found the group and have been reading lots of books for your challenge."

Thanks Cassandra! I didn't meet my reading goal last year, so I'm hoping to make up for that this year :)

I finished Do or Diner last night and started the next Mrs. Malory book called Mrs. Malory's Shortest Journey. I am obsessed with these books now and couldn't put it down! But I finally did have to go to bed. I took it to work with me and managed to finish it over my lunch hour! So I'm now 63 books down already and the year isn't quite half over. Unfortunately I celebrated by buying a bunch more books today ... I need help! :)

Finished #64, Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. It took me a while to get through this one so I'm happy to be done with it! Still reading The Deception at Lyme: Or, The Peril of Persuasion and I started State of the Onion on my Kindle, and then also started the fourth Mrs. Malory book. I'm motoring along in my challenge!!

I finished Mrs. Malory and the Festival Murders over the weekend. I liked the first 3 books in the series better, but I'm still looking forward to reading more of them. So that was #65! Currently still reading:
State of the Onion and
The Deception at Lyme: Or, The Peril of Persuasion
and also reading Sorrow on Sunday by Ann Purser. I had read some of this series a year or two ago and decided to go back to them. I like to read 3 books at a time so if I get stuck with one, I have two others to choose from. But I usually try to read 3 different types, which I'm not really doing right now. I'm really stuck on cozy mysteries set in England!

I've read 3 of your 5 star books from the 1st post (The Martian, Ready Player One & Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief) and I loved all of them. I'll probably end up re-reading the first two eventually. It sounds like you have good taste in books, so I'll have to check out some of your other 5 star books.

That's great, Adam! Just to warn you, I read a lot of mystery novels. I know those aren't everyone's "cup of tea" :)

Thanks Stephanie! I do love to re-read some of my favorite childhood books once in a while and I had forgotten how funny that book was.

Finished #66, The Deception at Lyme: Or, The Peril of Persuasion by Carrie Bebris. Still reading State of the Onion and Sorrow on Sunday. Also started The Counterfeit Heiress which I needed to start because it's a library book :) I need to finish up at least one of these soon so I'll be ready to start reading Water for Elephants with the group next week!

Finished #67 last night, Sorrow on Sunday. I couldn't sleep last night so decided to read. We had another thunderstorm late last night that woke me up. I haven't had a good night's sleep all week -- makes it hard to focus at work.

Finished #68, Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence. I am reading these Mrs. Malory books so quickly it almost feels like I'm cheating on my goal! :) I swear I'm not though! I'm really far ahead of where I thought I would be so I need to read a few larger books for the rest of the year. First I need to get the three library books I have checked out finished though. And then I'm starting Water for Elephants next weekend for the group read.

I want to say I'm really having fun being in this group!

Finished #69, Mrs. Malory Wonders Why. I really need to finish one of the other THREE books I'm reading right now, but I went into a trance last night and picked this one up and just had to finish it! Ha ha! I wish I could stay home and read all day today, but I have a busy day. I'm still hoping to finish up State of the Onion either tonight or tomorrow, and I'm also still reading The Counterfeit Heiress and I started Wicked Charms last night too (those last two are both library books so I'm on a deadline)!

Finished State of the Onion! That's #70. Woo hoo! Now I really need to go run my errands ...

Finished #71, Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger. I didn't realize when I ordered this book online that it was only 80 pages and some of it was illustrations. It's a really beautiful book. This author also wrote The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, both of which are wonderful books!

Finished #72, Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich. This series is pretty silly, to be honest, but they're kind of fun just for something different.

Finished #73 (!!!), Mrs. Malory: Death of a Dean. These Mrs. Malory books are like crack for me! My eyes are so tired from reading. I can't remember the last time I read this much in one weekend. It was glorious. :)

I started Water for Elephants yesterday for one of this month's group reads and I already finished. It is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Now I need to watch the movie version. So that's my #74. I give it 5 stars, but would give it 6 if I could.

Finished #75, The Possession of Mr Cave. I gave it three stars. It was very different from the other books I've been reading lately, much darker and more thought-provoking. I'm now currently reading Mrs. Malory and the Only Good Lawyer, still reading The Counterfeit Heiress, and also reading Silent Scream on my Kindle.

Finished The Counterfeit Heiress! #76, and that means I finished both of my library books ... too bad I checked out two more when I was there today. :(

Finished another one! #77, Mrs. Malory and the Only Good Lawyer. I gave this one three stars mainly because it was so obvious who the killer was.

Finished #78, Star of the East by Tasha Alexander. It was a short-ish Kindle book (one of those in-between books in a series) but I wanted to get it read before the next book in the series comes out later this year. It was supposed to be Christmas-themed, but really only had a few references to Christmas decorations, so it wasn't that strange to be reading it in July. :)

Finished #79, Silent Scream by Angela Marsons.

Finished another Mrs. Malory book! Mrs. Malory: Death among Friends. I can't believe I already have 80 books done! This is impressive for me!!

I just realized my "books to read" shelf hasn't decreased at all. I buy just as many books as I read. GAHHHHH

Catherine wrote: "I just realized my "books to read" shelf hasn't decreased at all. I buy just as many books as I read. GAHHHHH"

Isn't that the sign of a true bibliophile? I know that's what happens to me:)

Megan wrote: "Catherine wrote: "I just realized my "books to read" shelf hasn't decreased at all. I buy just as many books as I read. GAHHHHH"

Isn't that the sign of a true bibliophile? I know that's what ha..."

Apparently it is! It's my own fault, I keep buying Kindle books. (And regular books too.)

Finished #81, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape. Since seeing the documentary "Going Clear" I've wanted to learn more about people who have left Scientology and what their experiences were like. It's pretty disturbing stuff to be honest, but it's interesting too. This one was 400 pages so I'm happy that I finished it fairly quickly. Work has been crazy for me this week so I haven't had as much reading time as I'd like.

Wow, I just checked my book stats and I've already read more pages this year than I did ALL of last year! Exciting!

Finished #82, Mrs. Malory and the Fatal Legacy. I really wanted to finish another book I'm reading first, but it's going so slow. Of course I picked this one up tonight and devoured it. I'm going to run out of these in another few weeks at this rate!

Finally finished #83, Death of a Kitchen Diva. I did not like this book at all so it took me a long time to finish it. I had already purchased the next book in the series on my Kindle, so I'll at least try starting that one, but not sure I'm going to continue with the series. I bought this first one a long time ago with every intention of reading it sooner than I did, but it just kind of got thrown into my book pile. Then I was at the library recently and there was a mystery book display set up and two of the later books in the series were there, so I grabbed those thinking it would be a good time to start this series. I'm disappointed.

Finished another Mrs. Malory book, Mrs. Malory and the Lilies that Fester. That's #84! This means I'm more than half done with this series though. I'm going to be really bummed when I run out of these, even though I have tons of other things to read. I have a pile of about 30 books that I want to read by the end of the year.

Finished the next Mrs. Malory book, Mrs. Malory and the Delay of Execution. I didn't like this one as well as some of the others and I might take a break before I start the next one. Anyway, this was #85. I'm reading two other books right now but they are both long ones: Hollow City and The Ask and the Answer. Not sure when I'll be able to finish either of them. But luckily I'm way ahead on my challenge so I can take it easy for a bit!

Just finished #86, Death of a Country Fried Redneck. I liked it a little better than the first one in the series so I think I'll try reading #3 since I have it checked out from the library. But I'll finish one of my other books first. Still reading the two I listed in my last post and also just bought and started reading The Garden Plot because another person in a different group I'm in suggested it.

Finished #87, Mrs. Malory and Death By Water. Picked this one up to read and got it done instead of working on the other three books I'm reading ... I really need to stop doing that :)

Woo hoo, finished another one! #88, The Garden Plot. It was kind of predictable but cute. I'm on such a roll getting books finished, but I'm not going to have much reading time for the next two weeks or so. I have family stuff going on for the next two weekends, and my job is keeping me really busy during the week. But I'll do my best to read whenever I can -- during my lunch hours and a few chapters every night before bed. I'm so close to my goal!!

Finished #89, The Deep End by Julie Mulhern. I really liked this one a lot. It was well written and the characters were intriguing. And it was a fun book to read too.

I haven't finished any books for a week now because I've been so busy. It makes me sad.

Finished #90 last night, Death of a Coupon Clipper by Lee Hollis. I actually liked this one even better than the first two, and I have one or two more checked out from the library so I might keep going with this series. Have not made any progress reading my other two longer books ... I just haven't had time to concentrate on anything too serious so those are set aside for now. I have another family event this weekend, but after that I should be able to get back into some more in-depth reading! Also looking forward to starting back up with the Mrs. Malory series.

Finished #91, The Amersham Rubies by Rhys Bowen. This was one of those short, in between e-books that some authors release between publications of their longer series books. This one was from the Molly Murphy series. I know I'll eventually go way past my reading goal so I don't feel too bad counting this book towards my total :)

Finished another Molly Murphy short e-book, The Face in the Mirror. I'm reading these now because I started making a list for books I want to read next year (I still have a pile I want to get through by the end of the year too) and saw that these e-books were still on my "to be read" list. I could have sworn that I had read them already, but they were on my Kindle and had not been read yet! Thank goodness for Goodreads, helping me keep track of what I have and haven't read.

Finished #93 tonight! In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. It is soooo good. I've been waiting for it to come out, I read something about it way before the release date and thought it sounded good, so I pre-ordered it and it just arrived today. Even though I've got four other books in progress currently I just couldn't wait to start it. I think it only took me about five hours to finish because I literally could not put it down. If you like mysteries, I really recommend it!

Hopefully I can finish one of the other books this weekend, I feel a little bit stuck with all of them.

Woo hoo, finished another book! #94, Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. I started this book a month ago and liked it a lot, it just took me a while to finish it. I'm still reading three others but hoping to finish at least one of them this weekend.

Finished another one, #95, The Red Book of Primrose House: A Potting Shed Mystery by Marty Wingate. I'm so close to my goal!! In a perfect world I'd somehow finish five books this weekend but I don't think it's going to happen.

Finished #96! by Lee Hollis. I'm glad I stuck with this series, this one was the best one so far. Only one more, I think, and then I'm caught up and will have to wait until another one comes out.