2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

I enjoy reading, but have never prioritised it. 2020 has taught me that reading with a cup of tea is my perfect, simple self-care and I am keen to continue this into 2021 (and beyond!)

In the past I have defaulted to thrillers, crimes and mysteries and I am eager to branch out. In addition to some classics, and bestsellers, I plan to read a lot about race, religion, and gender issues.

📖 Progress: 13/50 (at Feb 4th)

✔ Currently Reading


🔜 Reading Soon



➡️ Add Me! ⬅️
I am open to connecting with others and supporting your journey and goals, while perhaps getting myself some new 'Want to Read' ideas 🙂

Books read during 2021:

01. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration - Isabel Wilkerson
02. The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard
03. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism - Robin DiAngelo
04. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed
05. The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel
06. Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family - Garrard Conley
07. Lot - Bryan Washington
08. Contacts - Mark Watson
09. When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi
10. Flat Broke with Two Goats - Jennifer McGaha
11. The Giver - Lois Lowry
12. Untamed - Glennon Doyle
13. Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man - Emmanuel Acho

Those are some great goals, Gemma. Best of luck with your challenge in 2021.

I have started well and will likely complete 3 books during week 1. I have now increased my goal from 40 to 50 🙂

Gemma wrote: "I have started well and will likely complete 3 books during week 1. I have now increased my goal from 40 to 50 🙂"

Nice! You're off to a great start!

I hope you go beyond your 50 book resolution! Best of Luck!

Book #1:
Title: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Author: Isabel Wilkerson



Started: Dec. 31
Finished: Jan. 02
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "A caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups.."

Book #2:
Title:The Nothing Man
Author: Catherine Ryan Howard



Started: Jan. 02
Finished: Jan. 03
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "...the only remarkable thing about them is what they took from the world: their victims. It’s their names we should know."

Book #3:
Title: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Author: Robin DiAngelo



Started: Jan. 03
Finished: Jan. 06
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "If poor whites were focused on feeling superior to those below them in status, they were less focused on those above."

Bravo on increasing your goal to 50. Good luck with your reading challenge! :)

Book #4:
Title: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Author: Cheryl Strayed



Started: Jan. 06
Finished: Jan. 09
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves..."

Book #5:
Title: The Glass Hotel
Author: Emily St. John Mandel



Started: Jan. 09
Finished: Jan. 12
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "There’s an inherent pleasure in being unseen."

Book #6:
Title: Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family
Author: Garrard Conley



Started: Jan. 12
Finished: Jan. 19
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "Keeping a secret, telling a lie by omission, made it much easier to see all of the other lies around me."

Book #7:
Title:Lot
Author: Bryan Washington



Started: Jan. 19
Finished: Jan. 22
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "This is how easy it is to walk out of a life. I’d always wondered, and now I knew."

Book #8:
Title:Contacts
Author: Mark Watson



Started: Jan. 19
Finished: Jan. 22
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book #9:
Title: When Breath Becomes Air
Author:Paul Kalanithi



Started: Jan. 22
Finished: Jan. 23
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "...even if I’m dying, until I actually die, I am still living."

Book #10:
Title: Flat Broke with Two Goats
Author: Jennifer McGaha



Started: Jan. 24
Finished: Jan. 26
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "...maybe things would stop happening to me, and I could start making things happen."

Book #11:
Title:The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry



Started: Jan. 26
Finished: Jan. 27
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!"

Book #12:
Title:: Untamed
Author: Glennon Doyle



Started: Jan. 28
Finished: Feb. 01
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "It's not the cruel criticism from folks who hate us that scares us away from our Knowing; it's the quiet concern of those who love us."

Book #13:
Title:: Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man
Author: Emmanuel Acho



Started: Feb. 02
Finished: Feb. 04
Rating (/5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorable Quote: "The beautiful thing about the piano is that you got white keys and you got black keys. And the only way to make the most beautiful, magnificent, and poetic noise is with both sets of keys working in tandem."