The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
May 21, 2025 -- Week 21

It's been a while since we've done introductions (and we've had some new friends join the group lately), so let's introduce ourselves again and make some new book friends!

Where are you from?
What was your last five-star read?

I'm Lindsey, I'm from Edmonton Canada, and my latest 5-star read was The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone

I'm Laura, and I live in south central Washington State. My latest 5-star read was By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult.

I‘m Maria. I live in Wisconsin (in the USA).

My most recent 5 star is Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen. It’s a perfect example of don’t judge a book by its cover.

I'm Jaklin out of Reno, NV. My most recent five star was, "Dinner for Vampires" by Bethany Joy Lenz.

I'm Amitha and I live in North Carolina, USA. My recent 5-star read was Tejo Tungabhadra: Tributaries Of Time by Vasudhendra

My name is Michele and I live in a small town in west central Illinois. I don't really rate books with stars, but I've been telling my RL book clubs about Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire.

I’m Kathi from northeast Wisconsin. My most recent 5 star read was Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I didn’t realize I was supposed to check in… I think I’m 22 books through the main challenge. The mini challenges are low key discouraging me. But I don’t typically need challenges to push me to read a bunch. I love the diversity of the 52 book challenge. But I’ve just personally struggled trying to also get the other challenges checked off. That’s just me. I’ve read so many fantastic reads this year. Idk where to start. But Most Dope was a book that surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it. But I did. I think I would’ve kept putting it off had it not been for this challenge. I’ve found myself recommending it to a few people since as well.

Hi, I'm Marielle from Deventer, the Netherlands.
My last 5 star read was Alanna: The First Adventure
I read this for this challenge, nr 28.

Hi, I'm Hilde from Sarpsborg in Norway, Europe.
My last 5 star books are a trio of Norwegian Books about ceramics -

Klassisk fajanse fra Figgjo by Rune Stubrud
Klassisk fajanse fra Stavangerflint99286696] by Marianne Berg Haaland & Rune Stubrud
Klassisk fajanse fra Figgjo ; Klassisk fajanse fra Stavangerflint ; Fajanse fra Egersund by Rune Stubrud


My last 5 star book in English is way back in October 2024. All others are fanfictions and a few more Norwegian books.

Hi, I am Anna. I am from Montana, USA, but I am currently living in Tunisia. My last 5 star read was Peace Like a River

I'm Adrienne from San Diego, California.
Highest rated recent read was Know My Name by Chanel Miller. Recommend to all, especially university students.

I’m Stephen. I’m in Tulsa, USA.

My last five-star reads were “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” by Robert A. Heinlein, “The Son” by Philipp Meyer, “Endurance” by F. A. Worsley, “The White Darkness” by David Grann, “The Brave Cowboy” by Edward Abbey, and “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein.

I rarely give books five stars, but I’ve been on a roll the past six weeks.

Would love to have more Goodreads friends.

Happy reading, all!

I'm Ron and I'm from Texas. Seriously one of the worst states. Heat and dust. I always feel like I'm in a scene from the movie Interstellar.

*****

I normally only have 7 books that are 5-stars in any given year, however this year has been exceptional. I've hit 15 books that have been 5 stars (out of about 63 books this year) which is very impressive.

Only 2 books have been fiction related and the other 13 have been nonfiction.

My last 5-star read was The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time which I was not expecting. Such a cool book.

I'm currently reading Morphenomenal: How the Power Rangers Conquered the World and I have a strong feeling it will be another 5-star read.

I'n Denise from just outside Los Angeles. I give a lot of 4 stars but rarely 5. The last 5 star read was Wow, No Thank You.: Essays. The essays were so funny

Hi, I'm Tracey from NSW, Australia. I give too many 5 stars but I do love reading. My last 5 stars was for a classic, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

Hello, I'm Valerie from northern Wisconsin. I'm 35 books through year's challenge. My last 5 star read was, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad. As a teen of the 1990s this had been on my "to read pile" for a while. The book really is about Kurt Cobain rather than the whole band, but a lot of people say Kurt was Nirvana.

Arielle wrote: "Anyone read the whole series? Or decided to stop after the first few books?”

I read them all, but none were as magical as the first book. I enjoy historical fiction and much of the series is more historical fiction, with less of the time travel twist. Still, I enjoyed them. (And yes, they are long!)

I am from Fort Smith, Arkansas, sitting right on the border of Oklahoma.

My last 5☆ read was Red Notice by Bill Browder. It's an autobiography of a financial whiz who had a huge investment business in Russia. And then he lost it all when he started bringing out into the open the fraud in finances happening under Putin's blessings. Browder hired Sergei Magnitsky to investigate and uncover more of the fraud. For doing that, Magnitsky was arrested, tortured, and killed. The book leads up to that case and passing the "Magnitsky Law" in the U.S.

Hi, I’m Lynn from beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada.

Amazingly, this is already my 5th year of participating in this challenge.
My last 5 star read was The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede.

Hey, y'all! I'm Ashtyn. I currently live in Virginia. I think I've only had two true 5 stars this year: Early Riser and The God of Endings

Hi! I'm Necmi from Türkiye.
My last 5-star read was Kınalı Serçe by Şermin Yaşar.