The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
January 8, 2025 -- Week 2

It's the start of WEEK TWO of our challenge! Today, let's chat about how we're each tackling this year's challenge.

How will you pick your next prompt? Or your next book?
Are you winging it? Sticking to your pre-planned choices?
Do you have any unique approaches or special add-ons for 2025?

Example of common add-ons:
- Completing the challenge in order
- Completing the challenge using only one genre
- Completing the challenge twice
- Picking your next prompt randomly out of a jar
- Only reading books from your TBR pile, library, or bookshelf
Etc!

There are as many different approaches to this challenge as there are members in this group. We look forward to hearing how you're choosing to tackle 2025! 🙂

I'm not reading in order this year (it was hard last year), but I am doing the entire challenge in only fantasy novels. I think all but 3 or 4 of my books will be from the library and I'm not sticking to my pre-planned list but using it as backup/emotional support.

I did pre-plan most of the prompts because I like to overlap them with other reading challenges. I planned about 60 of the 80 books i plan to read in this manner. I tried to use only books I own but i will get a few from the library. I will not read them in order, I will close them as the mood strikes. A few are planned in advance by my book clubs and I will read then before the discussions. They are subject to change at any time.

I am a “planner”. One of my goals in completing the challenge is to use complete the prompts from my physical TBR. Prior to January 1, I check the GR lists for books on my bookshelves and list them in a spreadsheet by prompt.

I plan the books I'm reading but not the order, for the most part. However I also wing it if I feel like I need a change of pace or genre. After three thrillers in a row, right now I am rereading The Serpents of Arakesh by V.M. Jones for #49: Book you'd consider a comfort read. I try to borrow books from the library or Kindle Unlimited whenever possible and minimise my buying. Yesterday I finished The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave for #19 Cover has building or cityscape, and am nearly done with No Country for Girls by Emma Styles for #3 Connect to something mentioned in the Do Re Mi song (the characters run a long way).

I randomly select prompts. Whenever find a book related to a prompt I take it from the shelf and start to read it.

I have picked books for 37 prompts, only my own TBR books so far, but will use some library books when they fit.

I have finished #18 A Character who can fly - Disney Villains The Essential Guide New Edition by D.K. Publishing, and will read this week Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi for #22 A Found Family & Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas for #45 Author releases more than one book a year. All 3 light reading under 100 pages each.

Of the other 34 pre-sellected books, I'll see what I am in the mood for, but always history.

Hi there! I'm new to the community and have been loving it so far. :) just a quick question - I am having some trouble finding a book for Prompt 2. I was hoping to read Little Women but I believe Jo is not a redhead in the book, but instead in the movie adaption. Would this be alright?

If not, l'd really appreciate any suggestions - I already have read Anne of GG and other suggestions tend to be
fantasy/romance/YA which I am trying to read less of this year. I'm hoping to read more classics/pre-20th century literature.
Thank you :)

Ash- Anne of Green Gables had sequel’s would those be any good?

Currently reading Sometimes I Lie for Diary entry. I had planned everything but now having a change of heart about some

I am not reading in order this year I planned my prompts. I read only via audible books, with that being the case I am trying to read as much as I can on hoopla, many of my choices have a wait list so I am trying to read as they become available

I usually just read my TBR list for the year and plug them into whatever prompt they fit. When I get done with that list, then I pick out books that will fit whichever prompts are left.

My main goal is to continue to work through my physical TBR pile. I have penciled some of these into the different prompts. I tend to swing from fiction to non-fiction, heavy book to light topic, etc.
New this year I am going to try to keep track of ALL of the prompts that a completed book fulfills. Towards the end of the year, I find myself shuffling books between prompts, trying to fill them all in, and I have a hard time remembering details that have long been forgotten about a specific book.

I pick my next reads by what’s available at my library and figure what prompt it fits when I’m done.

I pre-plan for as many of the books as I can, trying to fill them from books already on my very lengthy TBR list. I then try to keep one unplanned-for prompt in the back of my mind at a time as I read other books in case it will fit. A couple times during the year I'll go through the list of prompts and confirm I haven't already read a book that fits a prompt and I just overlooked checking it off.

I rely rather heavily on books from my library, so planning really helps in being able to request ILL books/ebook holds in a timely manner and that sort of thing so that I'm not scrambling to fill a bunch of prompts at the end of the year.

I'm reading the prompts in order this year. I tried last year, but it didn't exactly go to plan. Each month I make a little mini tbr for the prompts that occur during the month so that I can still have flexibility if my tastes change during the year

I’m trying to go in order, but who knows what’ll happen in the future! Currently reading Never Lie

I'm not planning them out. I'll read whatever catches my eye and find a place that the book fits. Come September, I'll get more strategic about the prompts I have left.

I'm still working my way through The Twelve Dates of Christmas for prompt #1.

I am planning some but not all. Some I will have to figure out if a book fits it after I read it. While others I feel i have to purposely plan out or won't happen. I thought about doing the TBR jar but then that would make it harder because some I get from the library and I also want to do the read it/watch it challenge so that has an order. I started with prompt # 47 and am currently doing #35.

Sometimes I say I'm a mood reader, but I'm really a mood planner. My library lets me put 50 books on hold, so I'll look at the prompts and put books on hold that fit prompts that I think I'll have trouble filling. Then, when the books become available, I pick and choose which ones I'm in the mood to read... or which ones I have to take to take care of mini-challenges.

Ash wrote: "Hi there! I'm new to the community and have been loving it so far. :) just a quick question - I am having some trouble finding a book for Prompt 2. I was hoping to read Little Women but I believe J..."

Have you checked our List of suggestions? https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

This is my first time doing this challenge so I’m kinda coming in with out any planning. I feel like as I go through the year and this challenge, and I look at the prompts more, I will be able to plan ahead what books I would like to read! I do have some priority books I would like to get to this year, so I’ve made a bookshelf for those, but sometimes I just like going through my TBR and choosing a book based on whether I’m more drawn to the cover/title in the moment.

Unusual for me since I am generally a planner, but not for this challenge. Instead, I read what fits in my other reading plans, then record the books in a spreadsheet with all the possible prompts each book fits. At the end of the year, I make final assignments. The vast majority are books I already own, ebooks, audiobooks, or physical copies. No add-ons.

I belong to 2 other groups at Goodreads and often read the books the groups have voted on to read & discuss each month. I also have my own system of reading books I already own—I choose a stand-alone book by an author whose last name begins with a certain letter (currently on F, working toward Z) and also a series by an author whose last name begins with a certain letter (also currently on F, working toward A) and read all the books in said series. And I read a mystery series (separately from the other series choice)—currently making my way through the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt books by Anne Perry.

Adrienne wrote: "My main goal is to continue to work through my physical TBR pile. I have penciled some of these into the different prompts. I tend to swing from fiction to non-fiction, heavy book to light topic, e..."

This is a great tip - I hope I'll remember to do this with mine!

I am trying to create small monthly TBRs where I pick out a few specific prompts at a time and try to fulfill them with books I already own. I will use the library if I can't find anything I own to fulfill a prompt (#14!) but I'm trying to really read down my physical TBR this year.

I was able to read for 2 prompts in the first week (The Wild Huntress for #36 and Lost and Found in Paris for #48) so off to a good start!

This week I am working on the following books and prompts:
Queen of Shadows - #42: non-human antagonist
Polaris Rising - #38: adventure story
Fable - #22: found family troupe

I am overall just picking books as I go and seeing where they fit. I know as the year goes on it will be far more difficult to just fill in prompts so I will probably have to start picking books for specific reasons. Last year I only read books I owned physically and even though I still have a *ton* of physical books I am trying to take a more relaxed approach in 2025. Odds are I will still just primarily read my physical TBR but not necessarily a bad thing! lol

As far as planning goes I did already look to see where my 25 books to read in 2025 would best fit but beyond that just going to see what happens. There are a few books on my radar that I know would fit specific prompts but very much try to go with the flow. I plan out monthly TBR's pretty successfully but annual ones are less successfully. My reading preferences can change pretty easily and I bounce around a few specific genres. There also tends to be a few months that are slumpy so trying to keep things more open should help minimize that maybe?

I've taken books from my TBR shelf and linked them to prompt will read them first then see what I have left.

I'm a mood reader through and through. I wish I could plan on what to read next and stick with it.
January 1st I started reading my book that would complete prompt 1: Bear With Me Now by Katie Shepard but grew a little bored. I couldn't find anything truly appealing until I went to the library and picked up We Spread by Iain Reid. This will complete the "Stream of Consciousness" prompt.
I'm hoping to stick as close as possible to the prompt list order this year. It worked well for me the last half of last year!

I just finished The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, for prompt # 17. My first 2 books have already been a challenge, by pushing myself to read out of my comfort zone. I’ve read 2 new genres, and I would definitely consider reading books like this again. I never thought I would enjoy a book “told in verse”, but I am now open to reading more books like this!

I had such a large TBR list in my Goodreads that I had enough to complete all the prompts! I usually read three books at a time (audio, ebook, and physical copy). I tend to pick based on what is available. I mostly get books from the library, cloud library, or listen on Spotify.

Week two Books:
#6- Just for the Summer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#20- White Horse Black Nights ⭐️
#50-Outlander ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I liked most of week two's books except for White Horse Black Night.

For week 2 I read ”Face off” by Chelsea Curto , recently I started to dig into romantic books and this one was really good

I tend to wing it, but I’ve really been focusing on trying to pick books I already own.

I’m a mood reader. So every year I take the challenge prompts and I put the numbers of the prompts beside the books in my TBR in a note in my phone.
This year I ranked the prompts from easy, medium, hard and color coded the numbers. So when I read a book I will use the prompt with the hardest challenge number and then dial in towards in the end of the year to hit unfinished prompts. My hope is that it is mainly the easy prompts by then and so it is easier.
I use books mainly from the library and some from my bookshelf.

At the beginning, I just read books that I want to without a prompt in mind. As time goes on, I assign books to harder prompts and begin to look for books to fill open prompts. Also, I tend to shuggle prompts often during the year.

I’ve never done this and I’m on holidays, I’m aiming to take a closer look when home.

I'm mostly picking books by what I'm in the mood for though trying to not read two books in a row from the same genre. I pre-planned some of the prompts, but I'll mostly just be filling them in as I go. Last year was my first year doing the challenge and I read through 24 of the prompts. Hoping to get through at least half of the prompts this year!

I have some books for my prompts that are due sooner than others at my library. Goal is to read them first, then hit my graphic novels. I can breeze through those.

Anne wrote: "I just finished The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, for prompt # 17. My first 2 books have already been a challenge, by pushing myself to read out of my comfort zone. I’ve read 2 new genres, and I wo..."
I plan to read The Crossover for #17 also. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. There is also a prequel to the story called Rebound I plan to use for #11.

I really enjoy planning which books will fit the prompts but I am a mood reader who rarely follows the original plan.

I have selected several options from personal shelves and hope to use those first. But I say this every year, so the goal will be to choose at least 4 books from my shelves.

A second goal is to read at least 4 non-fiction titles.

Generally, I want to expand my reading experiences so will be exploring new authors and genres. The prompts I feel will most help me to fulfill this challenge are Climate Fiction (14), Written in Third Person (35), and Stream of Conscious Narrative (40).

Looking forward to another great reading year! ;0

I just finished Anxious People and am now starting One Italian Summer for the set in summer prompt

I am late in posting my check-in for the 2nd week.....life is crazy right now!!

I am reading books that I have pre-picked for each prompt at this time....I am also NOT reading in order of the prompts. I am picking what I read next by asking my husband to pick a number between 1 and 52 this year :)

This I have decided to try and read at least 5 CLASSIC NOVELS....I have a few classic novels that fits a couple prompts also.

HAPPY READING!!!

I pick my TBR by playing TBR games at the end of each month. It's just a lot more fun doing it that way.

I've only just joined up. I hope to go in order, but with it being week 19 already, i might just have to wing it. I am going to go through my read books and if i finished a book in the week that fits that week's prompt I'm going to use it,even though it wasn't planned. That way I don't have to play 19 weeks of catch-up.

So with that said, I finished my first week! For red hair, I was lucky enough to have read A Disappearance in Fiji on 12 Jan, where the overseer had red hair.