Charon07 - 2025 TBR Challenge

Primary

1. Pothos, Rosa Campbell 1/11/25
   
2. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas 9/12/25
   
3. The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood 3/18/25
   
4. MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood
   
5. Dearly: New Poems, Margaret Atwood 12/14/25
   
6. The Elephant’s Journey, José Saramago
   
7. The Words That Remain, ‪Stênio Gardel 1/13/25
   
8. The Fireman, Joe Hill 9/27/25
   
9. The Fisherman, John Langan 5/7/25
   
10. The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones 6/1/25
    
11. Ammonite, Nicola Griffith 4/4/25
    
12. The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher
    
    Alternates
    
13. The Cipher, Kathe Koja
    
14. Indigo, Marina Warner
    
15. Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
    
16. Mensagem, Fernando Pessoa
    
17. Children of God, Mary Doria Russell
    
18. The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot
    
19. Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories, ‪Jeanette Winterson
    
20. The Between, ‪Tananarive Due
    
21. Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich
    
22. The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich 3/5/25
    
23. Orbital, Samantha Harvey 12/29/24
    
24. Alfie and Me, Carl Safina 4/10/25

I’m new to this group this year. I’m posting my list a little early because I keep going back and tweaking it, and I need to just commit! I’m aiming to read 12 from my list, or more if I can manage it.

Welcome to the challenge! Interesting lists you have there. I really liked Count of Monte Cristo when I read it. I hope you do too if you get to it. Good luck in 2025.

I posted my list early for the same reason. Interesting list. I've only read three of the books on your list. I'll be interested in what you think of the others. Good luck with your challenge.

Welcome! Not to prolong the torment, but technically nothing wrong with more tweaking to the end of December. Not that we actually have any rules here, lol

>5 Cecrow: NOOOoooo! Now I’m going to be trying to figure out how to squeeze Bel Canto in there!

Welcome! You have one of my all time favorite books on your list with The Count of Monte Cristo - no pressure. Definitely interested to see what you think of the Jose Saramago book if you get to it. I generally like his books but that isn't one that I've read before.

I hear nothing but good things about the Count, and I haven’t read a Dumas book that I haven’t liked, so I’m certainly going to try to get to this one. And José Saramago is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I’ll probably get to this one too.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Oops! I forgot this was on my 2025 alternates list and I read it at the end of December, in an effort to read as many of the Tournament of Books titles as I can before the tournament starts in March. It was a lovely if not terribly original, somewhat wistful and melancholy meditation on humanity and its place on Earth and in space. My review is here.

Welcome to the group and good luck with your challenge! Orbital is one that I’ve had my eye on.

That’s a book I already have on my wishlist. Sounds like it’s worth reading.

welcome to the group ^_^

you have a lot from one of my fave authors, margaret atwood...but all of them i have not read yet! looking forward to your views.

happy reading ^_^

Pothos by Rosa Campbell ★ ★ ★ 1/2

My first TBR book actually read in 2025. This was a memoir of the author’s grieving the death of her father—almost a prose poem, or a series of prose poems. My review is here.

The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel ★ ★ ★ ★

A deeply affecting story about an illiterate gay man looking back on his life and his first love. My full review is here.

you're starting the year with a couple of serious reads...you're made of tougher stuff than me ^_^ The Words That Remain sounds like a tear jerker!

>15 riida: Yes, I guess they both are rather emotionally draining. I’ll probably start The Count of Monte Cristo soon for some good escapism.

>16 Charon07: oooh an old fave that i really should re-read!

Nifty, I've never seen a review framed inside of another post like that.

I was reading your review and thinking, must be a typo, must have happened in 1850? But no, it really was the 1950s ... that's just crazy.

>19 Cecrow: That’s the new “Attach Review” feature. There’s a new button at the bottom of the field when you post a message. Pretty handy for threads like this!

I read Oryx and Crake way back, knew there were two more books but I didn't know this tackled same events from a different pov - interesting.

Great review! Sounds intriguing - I like that there is a balance between new cultures and the familiar.

>21 Charon07: read oryx and crake waaaay back, didnt know there were other novels set on the same world...

i love atwood...i need me to find some new titles of hers

>25 Charon07: too bad it sounds too 'preachy'...i really like owls ^_^

>26 riida: Luckily for us, she’s pretty prolific! MaddAddam and The Testaments are the next novels on my Atwood TBR.

>27 riida: I listened to the audiobook, and that sometimes affects how a book hits. And there is good stuff about owls…

>28 Charon07: good to know, specially about the owls :D

have you read the blind assassin yet? might be my fave atwood ^_^

im thinking of picking up handmaids tale case (shocker!) i have never read it yet!!

>30 riida: Yes, I loved The Blind Assassin. I should probably re-read it soon. Alias Grace and Oryx and Crake are two of my favorites. Handmaid’s Tale is pretty grim, but you probably know the general gist by now.

Surfacing is my favourite of hers that I've read, followed by maybe Cat's Eye. But I haven't gotten to Assassin or Alias yet.

>32 Cecrow: I haven’t read either of these! I already had Cat’s Eye in my TBR, and I’ve now added Surfacing.

Yikes. The title is probably a reference to that infamous line by the US general who said the only good one is a dead one.

>35 Cecrow: It surely is, though I don’t recall that it’s actually mentioned explicitly anywhere in the novel.

It’s been a while since I’ve managed to check anything off my list, but I finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which I’ve been working on for about 5 month.

I read an abridged version, sounds like you ate the full salad!

>38 Cecrow: Indeed I did! 1078 pages, not counting the introduction and the end notes. I saw a review that praised this translation by Robin Buss, and although I have nothing to compare it to, I was pleased with it. The end notes were minimal but helpful, just enough to clarify some of Dumas’ historical and cultural references.

>37 Charon07: - That is one of my favorite books! So pleased that it worked for you.

>40 LittleTaiko: I haven’t read a Dumas that I haven’t liked!

>39 Charon07: amazing! well done you! i think i've only ever read the abridged version (and watched several adaptations :p)....i'd really love to be able to read the full version one day

Oof, hopefully you've something a little more escapist lined up.

Congrats on reading any poetry at all, it's something I can't do with appreciation. I even sought a prose version of the Iliad/Odyssey just to avoid it.

>46 Cecrow: Well, it’s often hit or miss for me, but when it’s good, it’s very, very good. I can’t say that I think much of epic poetry. Though Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf was very good. It doesn’t rhyme, and he really captured the rhythm and “feel” of the Old English, to the extent that I can judge.

>45 Charon07: oooh i didnt know she published poetry...or that her husband recently died. need to get back to some of my poetry books too....sometimes its just what one needs

>48 riida: I sometimes find it hard to read an entire book of poetry, especially by a single author. It’s like eating too much rich food at one sitting. I should just dip into my poetry books more often and have a little nibble.

Although I read 12 books from this year’s list, it’s only because I read one book before the start of 2025. I guess it balances out, though, because I’m listening to The Twisted Ones but didn’t finish it before the end of the year. On to 2026!

That's a good chunk. Glad you're in for 2026!