The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
February 26, 2025 -- Week 9

It's the last few days of February and the start of week nine of our challenge! What did your February look like?

- How many prompts did you complete?
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
- Least favourite?
- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month?

- How many prompts did you complete? 14
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
James by Percival Everett, 5+*
- Least favourite? G'Day to Die, 3*

- How many prompts did you complete?
I am not assigning prompts till later in the year, but everything I read fit at least 1 prompt.

- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky 5⭐️

- Least favourite?
Red Orc's Rage by Philip José Farmer, 1/2 ⭐️

- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month?
I finished 6 books and might finish 1 more before the end of the month.

I completed 11 prompts this month. My favorite book was The Women by Kristen Hannah.

I've completed 7 prompts this month. My favorite was Friends With Secrets by Christine Gunderson and don't have a least favorite book actually. I've enjoyed them all for different reasons.

- I finished 8 prompts
- Favorite a darker shade of magic by Victoria E. Schwab

How many prompts I finished- So far, I've gotten through 3 prompts, but I should have a fourth done before the month is out.

Favorite book- A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft

Least favorite- The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

Other highlights- I finally started my re-read of the Fablehaven series. It's been about thirteen years since I first read it, so I'm excited to see how much my view of it has changed.

- How many prompts did you complete?
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
- Least favourite?
- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month?

- I don't really keep track of which prompts I complete in a week or what have you. Whatever book I'm reading I just check to see if it fits a prompt.

So far for this challenge I've completed 16 prompts.

- Favorite prompt for this month though was #37. Genre chosen for you by someone else. I read The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred based on someone's recommendation on Discord. I don't read a lot of science books but I found myself really getting into this one and loving it.

- From the prompts I've done so far (not necessarily this month) my least favorite was #14. Climate fiction. I don't read fiction in general and maybe I could have chosen a different book but I ended up going with The Day After Tomorrow . I was hoping the book would be a good adaptation but it was just okay.

- In terms of bookish highlights for the month of Feb. specifically, I read 11 books. I find that though I'm a mood reader, creating monthly TBR lists is actually working in my favor and not getting me in reading slumps.

Alicia wrote: "- Favorite a darker shade of magic by Victoria E. Schwab"

That whole series is excellent!

- How many prompts did you complete?..."
Includes a Diary Entry - The Grey Wolf
Crossover Universe - Slaughter House Five
Shares a Universe - Mother Night
Adventure Story - Games Untold
Character Who Can Fly - Heaven's Keep
Book with Short Chapters - James
Book with an Epigraph - All the Worst Humans
Book with a Celebrity on the Cover - All the Colors of the Dark

Favorite Book - Games Untold

Least Favorite Book - I had a lot of flops this month, but my least favorite was probably Slaughter House Five. The cross universe prompt was my least favorite because I had no desire to read Mother Night after finishing Slaughter House Five, but I couldn't find another set of books for this prompt that interested me.

I read James and All the Colors of the Dark because of all the hype, but I don't feel like they lived up to the hype. I was disappointed because they were only ok.

- How many prompts did you complete?
Not sure... I didn't even realize it was a thing until the last week lol... so maybe 3-4?

- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
A pun in the title

- Least favourite?
Character with red hair (only because I couldn't immediately think of one... although now I can lol)

Can I include my LOWLIGHT not highlight? lol I'm currently reading Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman and not only is it a terrible book, but I now HATE her :(

Def not my intention when I started the book!

- How many prompts did you complete? - I finished 12 prompts in February.
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month? - Until We Meet #40
- Least favourite? Care and Management of Lies #39
- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month? - I finished 2 or 3 books that I'd checked out from the library before, but had never finished!

I have completed twenty prompts, ten in January and ten this month, but may change some of them later. I had quite a few favorite ones though probably the The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza for prompt #49 and and the The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight Prompt # 22 were my favorites. My least favorite was This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer for prompt #40. I might change some of these. In addition I did the February minichallenge. Looking forward to the March one.

I fulfilled 7 prompts this month.
My favourite book is a tie between two —- Ben-Hur: A tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace, and The Moons of Jupiter by Alice Monroe.
My least favourite is also a tie between two —- The Iliad and The Odyssey, both by Homer.
I am reading books I likely would not otherwise have read.

Happy Friday. This week has been crazy. My best friend got married, I'm finally relieved of my duties and and now I can finally rest! Still can’t believe she’s married. I feel like we just finished college a couple of months back, but here we are... time flies by so fast.

Onto the book news, I finished six books this month.

1. Golden Son - [PS 3][52BC 43]
5/5 definetly better than the first book. The last part of the book gave me chills. I laughed, I cried. 100/100

2. Muses & Melodies [PS 31][52BC 3] meh.

3. Moti on the Water[PS 27][52BC 25] 4.5/5
I loved everything about except for the hindi pronunciation! I wish they opted for an Indian narrator. But other than that I don’t have any complaints.

4. Maame[PS 1][52BC 40] 5/5
Its coming of age book but in her mid twenties. Enjoyed it. Can't believe this is a debut!

5. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches[PS 26][52BC 12]
3.5/5 I like it fine. I saw couple of good reviews on insta and this book happened to be on two of lists for the new bookmark feature on goodreads. So I read it...

6. Under One Roof [PS 8][52BC 2]
4/5I just read this yesterday in like 2hrs or something.



- How many prompts did you complete?
Overall.. 12/52
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
Fav book is maame.
- Least favourite?
muses and melodies

- How many prompts did you complete?

2 prompt and 20 books in total, 5 of them is not in the book base yet.

- #9 Set in winter - Varme vinterdrikker cappelendamm.no/_varme-vinterdrikker-... by Arnt Steffensen Non-fiction drinks, one of those not in the base yet.

- #36 Final sentence is less than 6 words long - The Secret Lives of the Elements by Kathryn Harkup - 2 words

- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?

My favourites this month are the NFP books about Not-for-Parents Europe: Everything you ever wanted to know, Not for Parents Australia: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know & Not-for-Parents South America 1ed -anglais-

- Least favourite?

En kort introduksjon til EUs historie by Lise Rye

- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month?

Norwegians doing good in winter sports.

Started and currently reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Third Shift Society, Vol. One, and finished Heist Royale (4), Ghostbusters Volume 1: Back in Town (3), and My Senpai is Annoying Vol. 1 (4).

So far, Third Shift Society, Vol. One has been my favorite. I enjoyed everything though, so I wouldn't say I had a least favorite.

The only highlight I can think of is that I'm struggling to determine if Cursed Princess Club, Vol. 4 can count toward the Spring prompt. The cover makes it look like a season in bloom, the phrase "next Spring" is mentioned, and these personal tutor students are preparing for final projects. If I base it off my country's school time line, that would make the graphic novel Spring, but since it's fantasy and never officially mentions a time of year, I'm a little stumped on whether to count it if I decide to read it in the next few weeks.

I completed 6 prompts in February.
In order of completion:
Prompt 21: Character's name in the title with Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Prompt 32: Includes a diary entry with This World Is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Prompt 1: A pun in the title with Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura
Prompt 36: Final sentence is less than 6 words long with Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken
Prompt 33: A standalone novel with We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Prompt 2: A character with red hair with Namesake by Adrienne Young

My favorite book was We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. Very creepy/eery. It completed prompt 33: a standalone novel.

My least favorite book was Namesake by Adrienne Young. It was the second book in a duology. I didn't think anything in the story was necessary. Not worth the read in my opinion. I'm glad I got it read and finished though as it had been on my tbr since I read Fable in 2022. I used it for Prompt 2: a character with red hair.

My highlight for the month is: I bought a kindle and it truly is a game changer. I had so many doubts: I'm a physical reader, I've read ebooks on my iPad and I'm not a fan, the cost. But I decided to try it since there were so many available on Facebook Marketplace near me for such a reasonable price. I love it and I'm kicking myself for not getting one sooner.

My favorite book this month was Homeseeking, which I read for Prompt 1 (set in a country that celebrates Lunar New Year. It is primarily set in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is a story of love over the course of sixty years.

My least favorite book was The Frozen River, which is beloved by many readers. It seemed that the language and atmosphere were too modern for a book set in 1789. I find that makes me distracted when reading historical fiction. I know that is not an issue for some people, but is a personal pet peeve for me.

One highlight was that after years of posting on Goodreads, I finally won my first Giveaway. It is the March pick for Jenna Reads for March and I have read some great reviews.🎉🎉🎉

I didn't get much read in February, because (yes, I'm bragging here) I spent the last two weeks in Antarctica and was too busy to read much. It was amazing.

Michele wrote: "I didn't get much read in February, because (yes, I'm bragging here) I spent the last two weeks in Antarctica and was too busy to read much. It was amazing."

Oh my! How exciting! Were you on an expedition ship of some kind?

- How many prompts did you complete?
Five for February! Currently completed 17/52
Title starts with letter "M" The Midnight Library 2/20/2025 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre one: set in Spring The Selection 2/6/2025 ⭐️⭐️
Genre three: set in Autumn Nothing Like the Movies 2/24/2025 ⭐️
Author's last name is also a first name The Women 2/10/2025 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author releases more than one book a year Deep End 2/15/2025 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month?
The Women- Author's last name is a first name. I work with Veterans and it was so refreshing see women get recognized and experiences printed. FINALLY!

- Least favourite?
Nothing Like the Movies I did not enjoy this one. Hard to read at times.

- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month?
I couldn't find a prompt for The Wedding People but I loved this book. I also am so happy books exist during these crazy times. Been a great way to cope.

Kathi wrote: "Michele wrote: "I didn't get much read in February, because (yes, I'm bragging here) I spent the last two weeks in Antarctica and was too busy to read much. It was amazing."

Oh my! How exciting! W..."

Yes, it was L'Austral.

Michele wrote: "Yes, it was L'Austral."
Nice!!

I completed 6 books in February.

My favorite was Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin. Prompt was Title by an Author whose Last Name is also a first name.

My least favorite was A Lady of Esteem. I can’t even tell you who the author is because I don’t remember. It was a prequel. I mean it was okay. I might eventually return to the series it’s apart of… maybe lol.

I completed 20 prompts including the mini challenge. My favorite read was between James and The Night Circus.

- How many prompts did you complete? 4
- What was your favourite book (or prompt) from this month? In Five Years
- Least favourite? None
- Any other bookish or non-bookish highlights from the month? No

I completed two prompts. My favorite book of February was Neon Gods and my least favorite was Forgiving Imelda Marcos.