2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I have read 33 books this year in the Goodreads challenge so I am to go a little bit further this year with 36 books - average of 3 books per month! It seems a bit daunting, but I have such a huge TBR pile that I need to get going on it!
Best of luck to all the other personal challenges.
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Hi Bookworm with Kids, I'm one too, and some of my Kids are bookworms too! I know that with kids, it can be daunting to read even one book sometimes, but you can do it!
What are you planning for your first read?

Hi, Kadijah. If I can get The Martian by Andy Weir in the library on Wednesday, I was going to use that as my first read. I think it is the January book read? I am in the middle of the Cousins War series by Philippa Gregory which is set in 15th century England so I will continue with those as well. My kids are bookworms too - the weather here was dreadful today and my youngest spent the whole day reading, finishing the book she started this morning! I can't think of a better way to spend the day! !

I just found The Martian on Kindle Unlimited for free so it is downloaded and waiting for Jan 1 when I can start it up. Good luck in your challenge this year!

I have just finished my first book of 2016! It was The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory. I enjoyed it more than her previous one, The Red Queen. At least the main character of this book is more likeable! I thought that this was a well written book but rather slow going for the first part. It showed Anne Neville and Richard III in a far more sympathetic light than we are used to. Portraying the White Queen as a villain is a new tack but it works well.

I read The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan. My daughter got it from the library and read it in a few hours. It is a lovely story about a Polish girl coming to live in Coventry and her struggle to fit in to the school that she goes to. It is completely in verse which makes it quite a fast read - there is so much not said by the author that you fill in by yourself.

Congrats on finishing your first books of 2016!

Thanks, Megan! How are you getting on with your own reading?

Bookworm with Kids wrote: "Thanks, Megan! How are you getting on with your own reading?"

Because I've been home the last three days, I've finished three books. That will slow when I go back to the office tomorrow.

It's no fun when work interferes with your reading time, is it?

Bookworm with Kids wrote: "It's no fun when work interferes with your reading time, is it?"

No, but I love what I do, so that always helps:)

This month has just been flying by! I can't believe that it is the 23rd already! I have been both busy and not well so my reading has been suffering. I did read a slim Quick Reads book the other day in the doctor's office, Four Warned by Jeffrey Archer which was a set of four short stories by the infamous author. It was quite good and I realised that I really enjoyed his books in the past.

For another Goodreads group, I have read Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg. It took me a while to read as it has an unusual style - the story of what happened the night that June Reid's house burnt down (just before her daughter's wedding) is told in pieces by many different people - June, her younger boyfriend's mother, etc. You never get the whole story from anyone, just their view of things and how the tragedy affected them. It was a story of a small town in America and like many small towns the world over, there are histories and petty jealousies. I am glad I read this.

Of course, this means that I am late starting the monthly read for 2016 Reading Challenge. However, I am starting to read The Martian now!!

OK, it took me ages to get through The Martian by Andy Weir but not because of the book! Life has just been very hectic over the last few weeks and I started a new job a week ago. l really liked the book, I am a scientist so it was really good to read all the technical stuff. I think it made the book more believable. On to my next book, The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. It is the February monthly read in my other group.

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz was the February read for the Goodreads Ireland group. It was a very quick read and really quite good. I haven't read the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes books so I couldn't compare the writing styles as some others in the group could. To me, it was less gory and graphic than modern crime novels.

I have just finished A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It is a strange book and I think it may take another reading before I have properly absorbed the story. But as they say, "So many books, so little time!". The re-reading may have to wait a while...

I have read the first book in the TBR Randomiser challenge. It was Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter. It feels a little bit dated now and some of the sentiments would not be tolerated in a book today. It was a quick read and I look forward to reading the others.

Great job, Bookworm! When I first read A Wrinkle in Time, I wasn't a big fan, but reading it more recently I felt like I appreciated it much more. It might be worth a re-read down the line!

Another randomiser challenge done. I have finished Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter. Again it was dated and I don't like Morse's attitude to women. I think I need to take a break from Morse for a little while.

I might have to read A Wrinkle in Time again, then. I didn't like it when I first read it in elementary school. Maybe I would understand it better now.

I have read two books lately, just finished the second about an hour ago. The first was an erotic thriller, Hot in the City - French Quarter by Lacey Alexander. It was quite a hot, erotic read but the plot suffered for the eroticism. Then again, it depends on what you are reading the book for! The other book I read is another Inspector Morse - The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter. This was not as misogynistic as the previous two Morse book and the mystery was satisfyingly convoluted so I enjoyed it a good bit.

I forgot that I read another erotic novella at the beginning of this month, Ectasy by Bella Andre, on Kindle. It was a short, light read.

Okay, I know I haven't posted anything here for a while, I don't know where the time has gone! My reading has suffered a bit over the last few months as work has been really hectic and all I'm good for at the end of the day is vegetating in front of the TV! I did read two books which I forgot to post here: Hero and Fugitive by Cheryl Brooks. These are Kindle reads for me and are quite erotic (I think I see a pattern here!). Of all the Cat Star Chronicle books I've read Hero is my favourite.
I am currently trying to finish Daughter of Fortune byIsabel Allende which started off very beautifully written but has failed to hold my attention. However, I am not giving up on it as I do want to see how the characters turn out in the end. I have also started I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World and Service of All the Dead but haven't made much progress with either of them! I am also reading The 8-week Blood Sugar Diet: Lose weight fast and reprogramme your body by Michael Mosley so perhaps I should just concentrate on one until it's finished and stop starting new books?

I keep forgetting to post here when I finish my books! I have finished Service of All the Dead and The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet but haven't read any more of Malala's book. I am also reading Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer. It is quite slow to start but I am hoping that it will pick up soon.

I forgot that I finally finished Daughter of Fortune as well. It picked up a bit towards the third quarter of the book but the ending was unsatisfactory for me.

I have now finished Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer and I quite enjoyed this book. I don't usually like translated books but I really didn't realise that this was translated until after I had finished. I also read The Submissive by Tara Sue Me. I will be reading more books by both of these authors.

I finished The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith before I went on holidays. It was a good read but not quite great. I can't quite put my finger on what was unsatisfying about the book. I will be reading the next book in the series to see how I get on with it.

I didn't read as much on my hoidays as I thought I would. I did a lot of doing nothing actually and it was good! I read the novella Cowboy Delight by Cheryl Brooks. It is a short erotic read, an opener for her Cowboy series. It would definitely make me want to read more stories in this series!

The next book I read while on holidays was The Dominant by Tara Sue Me. It is the same story as The Submissive but told from Nathan's point of view (and you wonder where E L James got the idea for Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian!?!) It explained some of the motivation behind incidences in the first book. I really enjoyed it and it was quite an erotic read.

Death Comes to Pemberley was my main holiday read. P.D. James is an excellent mystery writer but I feel she was constrained by writing in the style of Jane Austen. I felt that the middle section of the book was drawn out to the edge of boredom and yet the revelations and explanations were all contained in a couple of pages at the end of the book. It was not the best book I have read.

I can't believe I haven't updated this log in 2 months! It has been a busy 2 months however, but not necessarily on the reading front. After the Crash by Michel Bussi was recommended to me as a summer read and I enjoyed it a lot. I would read more of Bussi's work when it is translated from the French. Next I read two novellas, Six Tudor Queens: Writing a New Story by Alison Weir and The Secret Dead by S.J. Parris. I am looking forward to reading the full book by Weir. The novella by SJ Parris was an introduction to her character, Giardano Bruno, a medieval sleuth. I have the next couple of books in the series on Kindle and will get around to reading them soon.

I then read another summer read recommendation, The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne. It was a kind of chilling read and one that I am not wholly certain I enjoyed. It was slightly unsettling. The person who recommended it to me hadn't read it herself and was merely passing on a recommendation from a friend. As she is a twin herself, I wouldn't really recommend her to read it anytime soon. Especially as she is pregnant at the moment!

The last book that I haven't yet logged is The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. It was slightly drawn put and the amount of foreshadowing in the story got a bit repetitive at times. The ending wasn't as good as the promise of it throughout the book. However, reading the reviews on Goodreads, it seems that this was Morton's first book and that her subsequent books are better. I might try another.

Since I last posted here I finished another erotica novel, Elizabeth's Bondage by Nikki Sex (a pseudonym, do you think??). It wasn't bad. I have just finished Plague by C.C. Humphreys which is a murder mystery set in the year of the plague outbreak in London, 1665. I quite enjoyed this book. It doesn't have quite the depth and intricacies of a C.J. Sansom Shardlake novel but was enjoyable in its own right. I will probably read the 2nd book in the series, Fire, in a while.

Next I read A Dark Kiss of Rapture by Sylvia Day. This is a novella (or short story, I am never quite sure about how long each is!) in her series about fallen angels and vampires. It was a good introduction to the series. I then discovered audiobooks and have 'read' Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton. It is a cozy, light mystery read but I will definitely be getting more by her. Do audiobooks count towards a Reading Challenge however?
The Dead of Jericho, another Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter was next followed by a re-reading of Inferno by Dan Brown. My daughter wanted to see the film in the cinema so I went with her. I found that I couldn't really remember all the plot twists oif the book so I needed to go back to it. Again, I don't know if that counts towards my Challenge. The Training by Tara Sue Me is the last book. I have enjoyed all the books in this series so far but I felt that this was written as the end of a trilogy. There are other books out now in this series but I'm not sure if I want to read them. I like the ending the way it is!

I don't think that I am going to count the short novellas in my 2016 Reading Challenge. Therefore, I have to read another 5 books to reach my goal. Also, I don't think I will count the rereading of Inferno as mentioned above so that makes six more books! I better get going on the few that I am currently reading!!