2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

2024 Reading Challenge
114 / 100 120 140

Member's Corner:
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Good luck with your reading challenge, Gail :) I hope you have a great year.

Here's to a year of literary wonders! May your reading list be long, your bookmarks handy, and your mind enriched with every page. Best of luck in 2024!

Best of luck with your 2024 book goal! I hope you read some fabulous books!

JAN

1. b The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas -3.5
2. b Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel -5
3. a Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout -4
4. e The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose -3.5
5. e Blind Goddess by Anne Holt -4, translated
6. b The Apology and the Last Days: A Novel by Borislav Pekić. m, -4, translated
7. b The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Vol. 1 by Iwatobineko -4, translated
8. b Don't Ask Me Where I'm From by Jennifer De Leon -4
9. a Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll -4
10. b Garden by the Sea by Mercè Rodoreda -5, translated
11. e No Refuge by Nicola Clifford -3
12. b Abigail by Magda Szabó -5.5, translated
13. a My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson -5
14. b West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman -m,5
15. b Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi -5
16. b The Mule-Bone by Zora Neale Hurston
17. b Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner -5.5

FEB
18. a Bad Neighbours by Matthew Costello and Neil Richardson -4
19. b A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power -5
20. e Seeing People Off by Jana Beňová -2, translated
21. a The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie -4
22. b The Teacher by Michal Ben-Naftali -5, translated
23. b A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers -5

MAR

24. k All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher -3.5
25. k The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen -4.5
26. k Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers -4
27. k The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride -4

APR
28. b Stargazing by Jen Wang -4
29. b The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner -3.5
30. b Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias -3.5
31. n The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir by Wayétu Moore -5
32. k Food of Ghosts by Marianne Wheelaghan -2.5
33. n The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey -4
34. a Z For Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien -3

MAY

35. n The Second Ending by Michelle Hoffman -4
36. k Where the Guilty Hide by Annette Dashofy -4
37. b Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society by Dorothy L. Sayers -5
38. k My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez -4
39. k Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan -5, translated
40. n Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri -3.5, translated
41. a The Sister by Louise Jensen -3
42. b The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson -4
43. b Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit -4
44. b The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer -5
45. b Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow -5
46. b Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie -4
47. a Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt -6 minus 1
48. b Xingu by Edith Wharton -4

Awesome job so far! Do you have a stand out that I should read?

Blagica wrote: "Awesome job so far! Do you have a stand out that I should read?"

Remarkably Bright Creatures was wonderful. I did it in audio, which I recommend only because of the voice of the octopus. I bolded all my favorites and I am rarely able to pick just one for any particular month!

You go, Gail! Nearly halfway through the year, and you're over halfway to goal. Have a terrific summer! 😎

JUN

49. e The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter -5.5, translated
50. b The Women by Kristin Hannah -5
51. b The Fury by Alex Michaelides -5
52. e We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh -4.5
53. a An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey -4
54. b End of Story by A.J. Finn -6
55. b Three-Fifths by John Vercher -4
56. e The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson -4
57. a Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux -4
58. e Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer -4
59. b Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy -4
60. e Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill -4
61. b The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie -4
62. e Killing Trail by Margaret Mizushima -4
63. a Dead in the Water by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards -4
64. e The Secret of the Lost Pearls by Darcie Wilde -3.5
65. e Jamila by Chingiz Aitmatov -5, translated

I've increased my goal to 120

JUL
66. e Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -5
67. e A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson -3
68. b Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack -4
69. e The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeod -3, translated
70. b The Moon Lady by Amy Tan -4
71. b The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros -4
72. b Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr -3
73. b Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith -3
74. b A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe -4
75. b Murder is a Piece of Cake by Valerie Burns -3.5
76. a Murder at a London Finishing School by Jessica Ellicott -4
77. b The Dogs and the Wolves by Irène Némirovsky -5, translated
78. e A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdi Al-Ahdal -2, translated
79. a Intimations by Zadie Smith -5
80. e Lailah's Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi -4
81. e The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal -4
82. b The Book of Proper Names by Amélie Nothomb -4.5, translated

AUG
83. e The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar -3
84. a Tom Lake by Ann Patchett -5
85. e Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell -4
86. b It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo -4.5, translated
87. e Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë -3
88. b The Eyes of the Amaryllis by Natalie Babbitt -5
89. b Weirdo by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird -4
90. b East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov -5
91. b If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio -4.5
92. b The Night Shift by Alex Finlay -4.5
93. e The Palauan Arts by David Ramarui -3
94. b Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng -5
95. e Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda -4
96. e Mariachi Meddler by D.R. Ransdell -3.5
97. e Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill -3.5
98. e A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn -3.5
99. a Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench -10
100. b The Women Men Don't See by Alice B. Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree Jr. -3
101. b Warlight by Michael Ondaatje -5
102. e Island Casualty by D.R. Ransdell -3.5

SEP .....................I've increased by goal to 130

103. e Umami by Laia Jufresa -4, translated
104. b Foster by Claire Keegan -5
105. e The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton -4
106. e A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao -4
107. b All Systems Red by Martha Wells -4.5
108. e Bailey's Café by Gloria Naylor -4.5
109. e Blind Sight by Tanya R. Taylor -2
110. b Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi -4
111. e Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri -4.5
112. b A Quiet Life by William Cooper and Michael McKinley -3.5
113. e Cherringham - In Good Faith: A Cosy Crime Series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards -4
114. b The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz -5
115. a Islandborn by Junot Díaz -5

OCT...................goal increased to 140

117. a Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories by Shirley Jackson -4
118. e Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay -5
119. e The Last Word by Elly Griffiths -3
120. e It Falls Into Place: The Short Stories of Phyllis Shand Allfrey by Phyllis Shand Allfrey -4
121. e Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March -3
122. a A Front Page Affair by Radha Vatsal -4
123. b The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz -4
124. e Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson -4.5
125. b The Excitements by C.J. Wray -4.5
126. b Killer Underwear Invasion!: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories by Elise Gravel -5
127. b The International House of Dereliction by Jacqueline Davies -4
128. a How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin -3.5
129. b Pet by Akwaeke Emezi -4
130. e We Solve Murders by Richard Osman -4