The 52 Book Club: 2025 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
December 16, 2024 -- Week 51

Do you have any special bookish traditions for the month of December?
What about bookish traditions during other months of the year?

In Liz's family, for the month of December, she wraps up 24 different Christmas / winter-themed children's books. (The same books every year but they get put away for the rest of the year so they feel fresh each December.) Then, every day leading up to Christmas, the kids get to open one and they read it together. 😉

What are some fun bookish traditions in your family? (For this month, or any time of the year!)

On Sundays, we have an hour of silent family reading. Sometimes, it's in our family bed, and we go outside on the patio when the weather is warmer.

Everyone gets at least one physical book for birthdays and Christmas.

One of Our family mottos is above our library: "Reading is reading no matter the format."

No special traditions other than read, read, read, & that’s true every day of the year!

I just try and buy some books for the kids. I tried buying ones for the adults too, but I am not too sure if they were appreciated so this year it is just the kids.

One of the things that I do this time of the year is to plan for the upcoming year's challenge. I have several spreadsheets that I use for planning and tracking that I need to finalize for 2024. I have planned for 2025, but I need to pull the books and move them from my bookshelves to my book carts. I participate in a New Years Reading Sprint and as soon as it strikes 12:01 AM I will start on Prompt #1

Nothing original. Just the regular bedtime story every night, visits to library when schools out, and always buying at least one book every Christmas and every birthday.
And if I buy a book for myself at a bookstore and the granddaughter is with me, she gets one too.

I try to read at least a few Christmas themed books each year.

I have read 3 so far:

Ordenes gyselige jul - snoking i språkets sprøeste julegaver by Ragnhild Holmås & Henriette T. Osnes - bibsok.no/?tnr=10432076

Heldiggrisen by Monia Nilsen for the mini-challenge Features Festive Flavors

Christmas: A Very Peculiar History™ by Fiona MacDonald for the mini-challenge December Captured On The Cover

have just started reading

The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil by Al Ridenour for the Reading challege at my local library for a Chrismas themed December

and intend to also read

Det lyser i stille grender by Oddgeir Bruaset for the mini-challenge Holiday Harmonies

and hopefully

De hellige tre konger - fra Betlehem til norskekysten by Karsten Alnæs about The Magi - bokelskere.no/Embla/boksamling/4051910/

I try & avoid Christmas as much as possible! I make an effort not to read anything about Christmas/NY, except the Christmas edition of the Radio Times.

I don't look at next year's challenge until January 1st.

One of my bookclubs has a bookshop - books are wrapped with a sentence giving a few details about it on a tag & we each choose a book. We all guess what the book may be, then we open them. We're usually wrong!

Typically, I spend December finishing up open challenges and any delayed on-hold books I had not checked out yet. Right now I am finishing the last two books of the 2020 challenge, a couple of shorter personal development books, a couple not-fitting-next year’s prompts books, and at least two more Agatha Christie gems. I usually have more DNF books in December than in other months, but this month has had a couple winners. I deliberately do not read long or difficult books in mid to late December because I really want to start off the next year with a fresh book and a fresh challenge. A Dickens doorstop started in late December is not what I want to read the first few days in January! I might start reading my first 2025 book on New Year’s Eve night but will restrict myself to reading less than 1/3 of it.

In December, I usually have a few days off from work, and can sometimes find time to sneak away to read more. I try to finish up whichever challenges I've joined or set for myself...