The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Need a break from those long books? This challenge is for books 280 or fewer pages, so relax with some easy to lift books! We also have Chunkster and Doorstopper length challenges
This runs all year. Feel free to do multiple rounds as well!

Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
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Level 2 Flapping Wings
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Level 3 Taking Flight
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Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
1 Maman by Sylvie Schenk (177) ✓ 01/21
2 Bambino by Marco Balzano (234) ✓ 02/02
3 Einstein im Bade by Daniel Mellem (272) ✓ 02/07
4 24 Sekunden ab jetzt: Eine ganz normale Liebesgeschichte by Jason Reynolds (192) ✓ 02/09
5 Verwirrung der Gefühle by Stefan Zweig (140) ✓ 02/18

Level 2 Flapping Wings
6 Victoria. by Jürgen Lotz (158) ✓ 02/26
7 A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (237) ✓ 02/28
8 Sula by Toni Morrison (240) ✓ 03/09
9 Brief an den Vater by Franz Kafka (112) ✓ 04/01
10 Schachnovelle by Stefan Zweig (112) ✓ 05/05

Level 3 Taking Flight
11 We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune (163) ✓ 05/17
12 Richtig gutes Essen by Takase Junko (160) ✓ 06/16
13 Seide by Alessandro Baricco (131) ✓ 07/14
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15

2026 Maxi Challenges > Featherweight 2026

Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
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2
3
4
5
Level 2 Flapping Wings
6
7
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9
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Level 3 Taking Flight
11
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15

Featherweights:
Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
📚1: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving 16 Jan
📚2: The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath 18 Jan
📚3: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Alison Bechdel 24 Jan
📚4: The Secret Garden: The Original 1911 Unabridged and Complete Edition Frances Hodgson Burnett 14 Feb
📚5: True to Form Elizabeth Berg 25 Feb
Level 2 Flapping Wings
📚6: The Ice Palace Tarjei Vesaas 1Mar
📚7: The Door-to-Door Bookstore Carsten Henn 5 Mar
📚8: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 13 March
📚9: The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway 30 Mar
📚10: Six Feet of the Country Nadine Gordimer 30 Mar

Level 3 Taking Flight
📚11: A Month in the Country J.L. Carr 31 Mar
📚12: Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 24 Apr
📚13: The Book of Sleep: 75 Strategies to Relieve Insomnia Nicole Moshfegh 3 May
📚14: Passing Nella Larsen 12 May
📚15: Quintana & Friends John Gregory Dunne 18 May

Featherweight 2026

Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
1 Silk
2 The Wilderness
3 A Pocket Full of Rye
4 2BR02B
5 At Night All Blood is Black

Level 2 Flapping Wings
6 On Earth As It Is Beneath
7 Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments
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9
10

Level 3 Taking Flight
11
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Round 2:
Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
📚1: Earthlings Sayaka Murata 21 May
📚2: The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen Yuta Takahashi 7 Jul
📚3: Once Were Warriors Alan Duff 12 Jul
📚4: Anne of the Island L.M. Montgomery 19 Jul
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Level 2 Flapping Wings
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Level 3 Taking Flight
11
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Level 1 Ruffled Feathers
1. The Patchwork Girl of Oz - 1/11
2. Galatea - 1/14
3. Night of Cake & Puppets - 1/16
4. Tik-Tok of Oz - 2/21
5. Finding Acceptance - 2/28

Level 2 Flapping Wings
6. The Scarecrow of Oz - 3/21
7. Me Talk Pretty One Day - 4/7
8. The Wailing Wind - 4/11
9. The Sinister Pig - 4/25
10. Finding Redemption - 5/3

Level 3 Taking Flight
11. Skeleton Man - 5/9
12. Rinkitink in Oz - 6/7
13. The Shape Shifter - 7/3
14. A Killer in the Low Country - 7/4
15. Death of a Gossip - 7/5