The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

I feel so stupid! But how do I tag a book name and author in my comments? I see some comments have got linked tags but I can't seem to find a way to do this.

When you are writing a comment, there is a link above the comment box that says add book/author. Click that and you search for the book to add that way. You have the option of the link to the book or the book cover.

I’ve found you have to do it in a web browser NOT in the app.

Yes! I forgot to add that. Very important point.

Great! Thanks...

Hi, readers. I have not been able to find a book authored by a Bridget, nor McArthur. I used a book called Death of an Irish Politician by Bartholomew Gill. Gill is my maiden name. I am OK with this pick. However, I thought I might throw this out there to see if anyone knows of a Bridget or McArthur author.

If you search on Goodreads by author and just put in your first or last name it will bring up a lot of books! That’s how I found potential reads for that prompt. I tried searching “Bridget” and there were a lot of books that came up!

Hey! If anyone likes to use Google Sheets to keep track of their reading, I made a template from what I'm using for the 2023 Challenge. Feel free to copy and use for yourselves!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Can anyone tell me how to get the book I read so far to show as read for the challenge? The date read is marked for January 2, 2023, but I still show as having read 0 books.

Jennifer wrote: "Can anyone tell me how to get the book I read so far to show as read for the challenge? The date read is marked for January 2, 2023, but I still show as having read 0 books."
On this group (home page for group) you need to make a goal and a tag for this group. Then you have to mark each book you read with the tag you made.
Hope this helps.

Anna - Thank you for the instructions!

I saw one of the YouTube videos.

I'm not sure if we can post pictures of books so I didn't, but I'm wondering if the book Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman (the one with the picture of the ghost on the front) would be considered a typographic cover since the title is hazy and looks ghostly. I'm a bit confused on what typographic cover means exactly. Thanks to anyone who can tell me.

Jennifer wrote: "I'm not sure if we can post pictures of books so I didn't, but I'm wondering if the book Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman (the one with the picture of the ghost on the front) would be considered..."

I looked at the cover of Ghost Eaters

and I would not consider it to be typographic. From my understanding, a typographic cover is basically just words (no picture) or where the words make up the picture. I will add some examples. Also make sure you look at the list.
, ,
Hope this helps

Jennifer wrote: "I'm not sure if we can post pictures of books so I didn't, but I'm wondering if the book Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman (the one with the picture of the ghost on the front) would be considered..."

It's a cover that is predominately text with no or minimal pictures. We have a breakdown of this prompt under its discussion and on our Reading Guide on our website, and we also have a Goodreads List full of examples you can check out

I thought I signed up for the challenge, but have no way of listing the books I’ve read. Help!

Kate wrote: "I thought I signed up for the challenge, but have no way of listing the books I’ve read. Help!"

Goodreads doesn't track challenges well, you can either write which book you read in the discussion thread for each prompt, and/or you can create a designated shelf called "The 52 Book Club 2023" or something and manually add it to the challenge under the challenges tab.

Mallory wrote: "Hey! If anyone likes to use Google Sheets to keep track of their reading, I made a template from what I'm using for the 2023 Challenge. Feel free to copy and use for yourselves!

https://docs.googl..."

Thank you for sharing!

I am looking for a place to just… discuss books. Simple as that. But struggling to find it. There is no place related to this challenge? Or does someone know of a different group? I need to vent / rant…

Jenny Dahl Bakken wrote: "I am looking for a place to just… discuss books. Simple as that. But struggling to find it. There is no place related to this challenge? Or does someone know of a different group? I need to vent / ..."

This group is dedicated to our 52 prompts of the year, but if you're discussing a specific book you used for one of the prompts you're welcome to talk about it in that page.

Hi Lindsey & Liz,
A book I read for one of the prompts is not on Goodreads, so how can I show that I completed that prompt?
Thanks for your reply.

Lynn wrote: "Hi Lindsey & Liz,
A book I read for one of the prompts is not on Goodreads, so how can I show that I completed that prompt?
Thanks for your reply."

Hi Lynn, if you can't search for the book by the ISBN number then there is a Goodreads Librarian group where you can let them know the book info and they can add it into the system for you

Jenny Dahl Bakken wrote: "I am looking for a place to just… discuss books. Simple as that. But struggling to find it. There is no place related to this challenge? Or does someone know of a different group? I need to vent / ..."

I find the Facebook feed for this challenge has been helpful for venting. Like reading a dumb book and realizing that it barely fits the prompt and I need to read something else. That has happened three times this year!

Hi! I'm new here. I am in another group for a reading challenge and they have a community spreadsheet where you can log your books and see how others are interpretting the prompts. I was wondering if there was something like that in this group and if not would it be okay to make one and post it?

Annelise wrote: "Hi! I'm new here. I am in another group for a reading challenge and they have a community spreadsheet where you can log your books and see how others are interpretting the prompts. I was wondering ..."

Welcome! You can make one and share it if you like, the reason we haven't is we have 9,900 members here and 39,000 members on Facebook so having one sheet that everyone edits would be chaos. Instead people discuss their reads in the forums here and in the albums and conversations on Facebook.

Lindsey wrote: "Annelise wrote: "Hi! I'm new here. I am in another group for a reading challenge and they have a community spreadsheet where you can log your books and see how others are interpretting the prompts...."

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Here is the link. If it gets too hectic I may take it down, this is my first time doing something like this and I am not the most knowledgable of google sheets, however I think it should work.

Hello all! I am editing my TBR list and feel like I remember seeing The Saints of Swallow Hill for one of the prompts, however, I can't remember which one. Is anyone able to help me out?? Thanks and happy reading!

Leah wrote: "Hello all! I am editing my TBR list and feel like I remember seeing The Saints of Swallow Hill for one of the prompts, however, I can't remember which one. Is anyone able to help me out?? Thanks an..."

Someone on storygraph added it to the set in a workplace topic.

Question for fantasy readers:

I'm a little confused about Anne Bishop. A lot of her books are related to the Black Jewels universe. Are the Tir Alainn Series, the Others, and Ephemera also related, or are they they're own series'? Will I need to read Black Jewels before reading her other series' or does it not matter? I'm planning to start reading them in a few months, and I hate reading series' out of order.

Also: If they aren't related, which would be the best series to start with for someone who has never read Anne Bishop?

Adelaide wrote: "Question for fantasy readers:

I'm a little confused about Anne Bishop. A lot of her books are related to the Black Jewels universe. Are the Tir Alainn Series, the Others, and Ephemera also related..."

It is slightly late for a response, but I read The Others series and it was fantastic. I have the first book of the Black Jewels and I was told that it was a complicated world so I am waiting to have a moment to dedicate to it.

Would recommend Written in Red to anyone that doesn't have a self harm problem.

How many hours a day do you read? I can't seem to hit 52 no matter what I try.

Scott wrote: "How many hours a day do you read? I can't seem to hit 52 no matter what I try."

In my case, it's more like hours per week. I would say 10 hours per week (all reading, no audio). I have been reading 60 per year the last few years and will aim for 65 in 2024. And yes, I have a full time job.

Denise wrote: "Scott wrote: "How many hours a day do you read? I can't seem to hit 52 no matter what I try."

In my case, it's more like hours per week. I would say 10 hours per week (all reading, no audio). I ha..."

How in the world do you manage to squeeze in that much reading time? What's the average length of the books you read? I'm lucky if I can get an hour per day and I'm only at seven books for the year.

Partly, I read fast. I do about an hour a day M-Th. It’s how I wind down from work- I settle in an hour before sleep time and tead. I can easily do a 2-3 hour block on sat and/or Sunday because there is little I’d rather do than settle in with my cat, some tea and a book.
I DO get a lot of holidays off and often spend 2-3 hours reading on those days so it might average more than 10 those weeks
The length of the books vary but they can be quite long…I’d say 300 pages average, a few shorter, prob 3 500+ page per year. I have multiple books going at once so I can choose what suits the time I have
I am in 4 book clubs and that is extra motivation, I want to finish the book before the meeting

How do I edit the JPEG file from the web page that can be used to post pics of all the books you read for the year?

Cindy wrote: "How do I edit the JPEG file from the web page that can be used to post pics of all the books you read for the year?"

I use an app called Canva, you can also use PicCollage or other free programs. Photoshop also probably works, but I haven't used it myself. On our Facebook page we also have an album of templates and many people have posted instructions for Canva and similar things.

Here's a link to the Canva template, if it helps you https://www.canva.com/design/DAFX5TED...

Lindsey wrote: "Cindy wrote: "How do I edit the JPEG file from the web page that can be used to post pics of all the books you read for the year?"

I use an app called Canva, you can also use PicCollage or other f..."

Are there templates for the mini-challenges.

Many posters post a book and it shows in Bold and allows readers to get directed to the book on GR. How do you create the link?

Thanks!

Carol wrote: "Many posters post a book and it shows in Bold and allows readers to get directed to the book on GR. How do you create the link? Thanks!"


I don't know how to do it from the Goodreads App, but from the website: above this (or any) comment box there's an "add book/author" button and if you click that and then type in the book you have the option of adding a link to the title, a link to the author, or an image of the book or author.

Clara wrote: "Are there templates for the mini-challenges."


The main mini-challenge images are all on the website and Canva or PicCollage etc will still work, but the templates with the Canva links are available on Facebook since it's one of our members that creates them and shares them there.

Somebody had added this reading challenge to a Norwegian version of Goodreads where I'm a member, and thought to see how far I can get. With a quick check I have added 16 books so far, 14 of which I have already read; one I have two chapters left of and have to returned to the library today; and one that I hope to pick up there today also.

With a bit of looking around I found 3 more books to add. Books on the cover - Liftarens parlör till galaxen: En berättelse om 101 språk som egentligen inte finns by Yens Wahlgren that I remebered I had; a book published by Macmillan - The House on Cold Hill by Peter James and after I cheched the list of Newbery Medal Winners, I found that I have one high up on a stack of books to read this year. It is Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien.

I have now books for 27 promts, and have read 17 of them.

any November mini challenge?

Lisa wrote: "any November mini challenge?"

Maybe! We generally don't release challenges on the 1st, so keep an eye out here and of course you're welcome to join the mailing list on our website to be the first to know when/if we do!

thanks

For those who might like to use Google Sheets for tracking - I updated mine for the 2024 challenge and figured I would share the template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Thank you, Amanda! I use Sheets too, and yours works great.

Sandy

Amanda wrote: "For those who might like to use Google Sheets for tracking - I updated mine for the 2024 challenge and figured I would share the template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/......"
Thank you! I am new to the challenge and was wondering how best to keep track. This is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Mallory wrote: "Hey! If anyone likes to use Google Sheets to keep track of their reading, I made a template from what I'm using for the 2023 Challenge. Feel free to copy and use for yourselves!

https://docs.googl..."

I read Google Streets... And had a brainfart... Is there a way to place markers for the places the books you've read were set in a map you can save?