Please join us for our 17th annual Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks reading adventure

 

Join us for our 17th year of our annual Read 52 books in 52 weeks reading adventure. 

The goal is easy - Read 52 Books - Or if you aren't up to 52 but want to join in, you can set your own goal.  

We don't have any set reading lists so how you get there is up to you. However, we do have a variety of challenges including weekly, monthly mini challenges, annual and perpetual challenges to entice your reading taste buds.   

2025 52 Books Bingo - 25 new categories which will take us on a exploration from the obscure to the well known.

2025 Dragon Bookology - This year we're flying around the world with fictional dragons, spelling out their names or reading the books in which they play. 

2025 A to Z and Back Again - All the way from A to Z and back again as we play with words.  

Participate in one or more of our perpetual challenges:  

Agatha Christie  -- Read her books in chronological order as listed, group by detective or collection, or randomly if you choose. Read at least three per year.

Mind Voyages - A science fiction / fantasy challenge through the decades, exploring the Hugo and Nebula winners and nominees, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Heinlein. 

Well Educated Mind --  Continue to explore the classics in 6 categories: Fiction, Autobiography, History/Politics, Drama, Poetry and Science. 

or dip into past challenges such as Brit Tripping, Dusty and Chunky, Feed Your Muse, Inspiration, Nobel Prize Winners and Sounds of Silence.

There is a little bit of something for everyone. Read widely or wildly, follow rabbit trails, read outside your comfort zone or stick with the tried and true. 

The mini and perpetual challenges are all optional, Mix them up anyway you like and follow your own path in the quest to read.  

The challenge runs January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025

Our book weeks begin on Sunday, except for week one which begins on Wednesday January 1st and runs through January 11. 

Participants may join at any time. 

All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc. 

Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2025

Books may overlap other challenges. 

Create an entry post linking to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks and sign up in the link below.  

If you don't have a blog or social media account, post about your reads in the comments section of each weekly post. 

The link widget is  added to the bottom of each weekly post to link to your book reviews, and closes at the end of each book week. 

BW52: A is for Adventure

 

“He held up a book then. “I'm going to read it to you for relax.”

“Does it have any sports in it?”

“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. 

Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. 

Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders... 

Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. 

Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”

“Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.”

― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Happy Sunday! Our wild and whimsical reading quest is winding down for the year but that doesn't mean it is the end of our reading.  Reading is a never ending adventure because there is always another tale to explore that fills you with emotion, or teaches you something new, or helps you discover a different perspective, and or gives you something to ponder long after the story has ended.  Reading is as necessary as breathing, vital to our lives, minds, and imaginations. 

We've been counting down the days to Christmas with our advent calendars as well as anticipating  the annual book flood Jólabókaflóð.  However, we started a little early and our shelves and stockings are filling up.  But nevertheless, we'll spend Christmas Eve curled up on our cozy couch reading until the thought of Santa coming down the chimney drives us to our beds.  Winter also officially started on Saturday, the 21st, which means plenty of cold weather books to keep us company.  

Somebody reminded me the other day, it isn't the quantity of books we read that's important, but the quality.  With that in mind, how was your reading year?  

Tell me about any new authors discoveries you'd like to continue reading. Or ones you disliked and will never read again.  

Where did your armchair travels take you?  

Which books made you think and ponder and leave you with a big book hangover.  Or which books made you want to throw it across the room in frustration because of the characters choices.  

Share book quotes that stood out, beautiful book covers, or anything else that stood out for you. 

How do you feel about cathartic reads? The ones that hit you in all the feels? Do you avoid them or dive in, let the words wash over you and pull you into the characters lives and emotions.  

Do you annotate your books, write in the margins, engage with the book, talk back to the characters?  

Maybe it's an age thing but my reading slowed way down this year and I engaged way more that I usually do with stories. Some made me angry, others made me pause, a few made me cry.  I used to read only to be entertained, now I find myself delving into deep and dense stories.  

To that end, I'll be reading Les Miserables starting January 2025, so please join me if you haven't read it yet.

Thank you for sharing your reading adventures with me. Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year! 

BW51: Books to fill up your stockings!

 

Happy Sunday! It's time to peruse the best books lists as well as book club lists to fill up your stockings and TBR stacks because Winter is coming. The perfect time to curl up and read or figure out your reading plans for the new year.  So get out those journals and take note! 

Manning and Napier's - Our 2024 Year-End Book List

NPR's massive Books We Love 

Barnes and Noble's Best Books of the Year

Oprah's The Most Thought-Provoking Books of 2024

Vulture's The Best Books of 2024 The novels and nonfiction that offered unique robotproof perspectives.

The Complete List of Reese's Book Club Picks

Jenna Bush Hager Book Club list from the Today Show

The Best Celebrity Book Club Picks of the Year

Before you panic and think the year is almost over, please note book week 52 will run from December 22nd through December 31st.  Plenty of time to enjoy the holidays and ruminate over what you read this year and what you want to read next year.  

Happy Reading! 

BW50: Big C, little C, what begins with C?

 

Happy Sunday!  Big C, little c, what begins with C.  Why Christmas of course and feasting. Which brings us to Brownie Day (8th), National Pastry Day (9th), National Noodle Ring Day (11th), National Gingerbread Day (12th), and Ice Cream Day (13th). This week we also celebrate International Children's Day, Christmas Card Day, Human Rights Day, National Ding a Ling Day, and Friday the 13th. Lots of things we can turn into book ideas.  

Why Christmas website provides a round up of How Christmas is celebrated around the world. 

Penguin has some delightful Christmas Classics that would be perfect for gifts. I've already bought a set to give to family. 

Pan MacMillian has The best books to gift for Christmas 2024

I recently added A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote to my stacks. Ann Patchett, author and owner of Parnassus books says she's never been able to read the book aloud to a group of people without crying. I also added another holiday tale - Comfort and Joy: A Christmas fable by Kristen Hannah. 

Plus I am reading Kingdom of Copper, part of the Daevabad series by our December author of the month, S. A. Chakraborty.  Be sure to check her out. 

Happy Reading!

BW49: Countdown to Christmas!

 

Big D, little d, what begins with D. Why, December of course. Welcome to December and all the celebrations this month with Advent, St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, St Lucia Day,   December Solstice, Las Posadas, Festivus for the rest of us Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and ending with New Year's Eve. 

Time to pull out our Christmas books, curl up by the fire or wrap up in our favorite blankets, fill a mug full of hot goodness, and read. 

15 Christmas Classics

33 Contemporary Christmas Novels

The 100 Greatest Christmas Books

Best Advent Devotionals

Jewish Holiday Collections

What books do you traditionally read during the month of December, for advent, for Hanukkah or Christmas or the holy days or holidays?  

BW48: Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

On Waking

by 

John O'Donohue

I give thanks for arriving

Safely in a new dawn,

For the gift of eyes

To see the world,

The gift of mind

To feel at home

In my life,

The waves of possibility

Breaking on the shore of dawn,

The harvest of the past

That awaits my hunger,

And all the furtherings

This new day will bring.

Books About Cooks, and the Ingredients That Can’t Be Measured

A Feast of Thanksgiving Reads

13 Books That Didn't Forget About Thanksgiving

Big E, little e, what begins with E - Epics and epilogues, epiphanies and essays, experimental and expressionism all begin with E. 

50 Books beginning with E - How many have you read? 

Read-Alikes For Authors With Last Names Beginning E

BW47: F is for .....

 

Happy Sunday! Can you believe there are 6 1/2 weeks left in the year? I can't. Time to start brainstorming for next year.    I've reached F in A.J. Jacob's The Know it All in which he's reading through the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in his quest to become the smartest person in the world. The first entry is Fables, which coincidentally, coincides with the letter of the week and the first thing that popped up in literary terms when I searched the internet.  Synchronicity! Maybe.   

Big F, little F. What begins with F.  Why, Fables, as well as flashbacks, fantasy, foils, free verse, folklore and fairy tales, and feminine rhyme.  Robert Frost is a favorite of mine. I'd also like to dip my toes into stories by Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Flaubert, and Fleming, and well as French, Foyle, and Fyodor to name a few.  

The Flower Boat 

by 

Robert Frost

The fisherman's swapping a yarn for a yarn

Under the hand of the village barber,

And her in the angle of house and barn

His deep-sea dory has found a harbor.

At anchor she rides the sunny sod

As full to the gunnel of flowers growing

As ever she turned her home with cod

From George's bank when winds were blowing.

And I judge from that elysian freight

That all they ask is rougher weather,

And dory and master will sail by fate

To seek the Happy Isles together.

Happy Reading! 

BW46: We Honor You Today by Susan R. Smith

 

We Honor You Today

By

Susan R. Smith

To all of our veterans

Far and near.

We thank you for your service

For all those years.

You sacrificed your time,

And some gave your life.

You preserved our freedom

By willingly paying the price.

Many of you

Were sent overseas.

You were wounded in battle,

With scars and disease.

But courageous and brave,

You weathered the storm.

You faced every battle

With faith and beyond.

We honor you with joy

For all that you've done.

You stood strong for our country,

For our daughters and sons.

So no one stands alone,

We walk hand in hand.

Remember, we are with you.

Together we shall stand.

We salute you today.

Hear what we say.

Let our words speak eloquently

In this special way.

On this day,

Let us express our love and thanks

For the sacrifice you paid.

You served in honor

For many years and days,

And we will never forget

How you were strong and brave.

BW45: Let's take a road trip through through History, Humor, Hobbies and more!

 

Happy Sunday! Let's take a road trip through history, humor, hobbies, and more.  Welcome to Nonfiction November in which we honor and read a wide variety of categories that are fact based.  Or at least we hope so.  When I told my husband I was planning on reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he said it's fiction.   I disagreed but when I looked it up, found a variety of opinions and the main consensus is Zen is a fictionalized Autobiography in which the author took creative license with the subject matter.  *sigh*  And hubby hated it when he read it way back when.  Thank you for bursting my bubble. I'll make up my own mind what I think of the story when I read it.    A few people who shall remain nameless have fooled me in the past with their fictionalized autobiographies which resulted in me tossing their books across the room in disgust.  However, there is literary nonfiction or creative nonfiction which I love to read which uses literary styles and techniques similar to fiction but is actually based on fact to tell a story, rather than a dry tome regurgitating facts.  

Whether any of the books listed in the links are nonfiction, creative nonfiction, or fictionalized autobiographies, I'll let you be the judge. 

Slate’s List of Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years

47 Memoirs Everyone Should Read

Humorous Non-Fiction

20 tasty and tantalizing food memoirs

Here are the nonfiction books NPR staffers have loved so far this year

Happy Reading! 

BW44: I is for Intertextuality

 

Happy Sunday! I dove into a rabbit hole and became lost in internet land exploring books about and with intertextuality. What is it? Simply put: the relationship between texts, particularly literary text.  

According to literary terms:

"the fact that they are all intimately interconnected. This applies to all texts: novels, works of philosophy, newspaper articles, films, songs, paintings, etc. In order to understand intertextuality, it’s crucial to understand this broad definition of the word “text.”

Every text is affected by all the texts that came before it, since those texts influenced the author’s thinking and aesthetic choices. Remember: every text (again in the broadest sense) is intertextual."

Each story connects or alludes to the next one in some shape or form. Sounds like synchronicity, doesn't it. Yet, synchronicity finds meaningful coincidences without cause while Intertextuality texts borrow words and meaning from each other. 

Literary Hub's The Joys of Influence: In Praise of Intertextuality

Bibliovaults Books about Intertextuality  - a more scholarly view. 

The Book Lovers Sanctuary  - round up of book category intertextuality

Goodreads Intertextual classics (so many I've already read, and will probably reread at some point. Yes, our friend Haruki Murakami is listed.  Plus Goodreads Intertextuality books  - so many interesting stories I'd like to read. How about you? 

Try not to get lost in any rabbit holes. I dare you! :)

BW43: Japanese Literature

 

Happy Sunday! I have been a fan of Japanese literature for a very long time. I usually start the new reading year with stories written by Haruki Murakami which are full of magical realism.  Fortunately he has a new book coming out in November, The City and It's Uncertain Walls. 

"We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears . . . and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life.

 Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world – a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along."

I've branched out quite a bit over the years and have acquired many more books written about and by Japanese authors.  From Reading the City series,(I hope to eventually read them all) I have added the Book of Tokyo, A City in Short Fiction, with short stories written by Banana Yoshimoto and more:

"A shape-shifter arrives at Tokyo harbour in human form, set to embark on an unstoppable rampage through the city’s train network… A young woman is accompanied home one night by a reclusive student, and finds herself lured into a flat full of eerie Egyptian artefacts… A man suspects his young wife’s obsession with picnicking every weekend in the city’s parks hides a darker motive… At first, Tokyo appears in these stories as it does to many outsiders: a city of bewildering scale, awe-inspiring modernity, peculiar rules, unknowable secrets and, to some extent, danger. Characters observe their fellow citizens from afar, hesitant to stray from their daily routines to engage with them. But Tokyo being the city it is, random encounters inevitably take place – a naïve book collector, mistaken for a French speaker, is drawn into a world he never knew existed; a woman seeking psychiatric help finds herself in a taxi with an older man wanting to share his own peculiar revelations; a depressed divorcee accepts an unexpected lunch invitation to try Thai food for the very first time… The result in each story is a small but crucial change in perspective, a sampling of the unexpected yet simple pleasure of other people’s company. As one character puts it, ‘The world is full of delicious things, you know."

My family are also big fans of the Godzilla movies created by Toho Studios in Japan which lead to us wanting to eventually travel to Japan.  The closest we have gotten is through our armchair travels which is why I recently picked up Pico Iyer's A Beginners Guide to Japan:

"In A Beginner’s Guide to Japan, Iyer draws on his years of experience—his travels, conversations, readings, and reflections—to craft a playful and profound book of surprising, brief, incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. He recounts his adventures and observations as he travels from a meditation hall to a love hotel, from West Point to Kyoto Station, and from dinner with Meryl Streep to an ill-fated call to the Apple service center in a series of provocations guaranteed to
pique the interest and curiosity of those who don’t know Japan—and to remind those who do of its myriad fascinations."

I enjoy translated books from a variety of countries but there is an emotional richness to Japanese literature, with layers and complexity that will capture your attention. 

Japanese Literature divided into four periods

Why I love Japanese Literature

65 Best Japanese Books of All Time

Contemporary Japanese Literature 

Where to Get Started with 57 Essential Japanese Books in English

Happy Reading! 

BW42: Kunstlerroman vs Bildungsroman

 

Courtesy of Pinterest hudasameh204

Happy Sunday! What is kunstlerroman and what is a Bildungsroman? A bildungsroman is a coming of age story, whilst a kunstlerroman is a sub genre of bildungsroman and follows a character's development as an artist. 

Harry Potter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Where the Crawdads sing are all examples of bildungsroman. Whereas, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, The Unknown Masterpiece, or In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower are all examples of kunstlerroman.  

12 Books that Illuminate the Long Road to Becoming an Artist

20 Of The Best Bildungsroman Books

Goodreads Kunstlerroman Books

Goodreads Best Bildungsroman books

Happy Reading!