PaperbackPirate reads 49 in 2025!

Happy New Year!
Based on the number of quality books read in 2024 I had a very good reading year. I hope I have the same luck again.
For awhile I have based my goal on my age. Even though I haven't met my goal in the past few years I'm going to do the same again and try for 49.

Previous threads in case you're interested:

2024 (42 books)
2023 (40 books)
2022 (39 books)
2021 (43 books)
2020 (50 books)
-------------------------
2019 (43 books)
2018 (44 books)
2017 (41 books)
2016 (43 books)
2015 (35 books)
2014 (33 books)
2013 (50 books)
2012 (43 books)
2011 (43 books)
2010 (42 books)
417 books in 10 years

I hope you stop by!

January-March
1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride - finished 1/15
2. Island Wisdom: Hawaiian Traditions and Practices for a Meaningful Life by Annie Daly and Kainoa Daines - finished 1/17
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - finished 1/31
4. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill - finished 2/17
5. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler - finished 3/9
6. Nettle & Bone by T Kingfisher - finished 3/13
7. Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy - finished 3/22

April-June
8. The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us - A Diary by Emma Mitchell - finished 4/2
9. She Had Some Horses: Poems by Joy Harjo - finished 4/20
10. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill - finished 4/27
11. Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson - finished 4/30
12. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor - finished 5/10
13. The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman - finished 5/26
14. North Woods by Daniel Mason - finished 5/30
15. Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation Vol. 1 by Simon Spurrier - finished 5/31
16. Because I Had a Teacher by Kobi Yamada - finished 5/31
17. The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe - finished 6/15
18. Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck - finished 6/24
19. Full Throttle: Stories by Joe Hill - finished 6/29

July-September
20. Recursion by Blake Crouch - finished 7/2
21. The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman - finished 7/13
22. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez - finished 7/19
23. The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman - finished 7/21
24. Roadwork by Stephen King - finished 7/26
25. Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto - finished 7/31
26. The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black - finished 8/31
27. The Fireman by Joe Hill - finished 9/16
28. Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick - finished 9/28

October-December
29. Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah - finished 10/7
30. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - finished 10/12
31. Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York
by Ross Perlin - finished 10/26
32. House of Ash and Bone by Joel A. Sutherland - finished 10/30
33. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - finished 11/5
34. The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan - finished 11/20
35. Hawaii's Humpback Whales by Gregory D. Kaufman & Paul H. Forestell - finished 11/24
36. Blacktop Wasteland by S A Cosby - finished 12/6
37. Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes - finished 12/16
38. Outlawed by Anna North - finished 12/25
39. How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal by Claudia Nice - finished 12/26
40. Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan - finished 12/27
41. The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas by Syd Moore - finished 12/31
42. Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths by John Layman, Alberto Ponticelli (Artist) - finished 12/31

Oh, the places I'll go by reading books this year!

USA
California: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Hawai'i: Island Wisdom: Hawaiian Traditions and Practices for a Meaningful Life by Annie Daly and Kainoa Daines
Hawaii's Humpback Whales by Gregory D. Kaufman & Paul H. Forestell
Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes
Illinois: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
Louisiana: Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
Maine: The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
Massachusetts: North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Montana: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black
New Hampshire: The Fireman by Joe Hill
New York: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Recursion by Blake Crouch
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Language City by Ross Perlin
Pennsylvania: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Vermont: House of Ash and Bone by Joel A. Sutherland
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Virginia: Blacktop Wasteland by S A Cosby
Wyoming: Outlawed by Anna North
South Carolina: The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe

Countries
Canada: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
England: The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us - A Diary by Emma Mitchell
The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas by Syd Moore
Japan: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Nigeria: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Key Word Reading Challenge - 7/12
Read a book each month with one (or more) of the key words in the title.

JAN– Time, Know: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
⁠
FEB– Art, Golden, Dream, First, Club, Stay, Live: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
⁠
MAR– Deep, Little, Happy, Date, Guest, Over:
⁠
APR– Days, Upstairs, Sing, Life:
⁠
MAY– Lost, City, Wind: The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman
⁠
JUN– Great, Child, Book, Watch, Heart, Save: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
⁠
JUL– Deepen, Story, Sweet, Good, Left:
⁠
AUG– Side, World, Now: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black

SEP– Survive, Listen, Where, Sleeping: Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
⁠
OCT– Ghost, Moon, Last, One:
⁠
NOV– Tale, Final, Feast, Cliff, Memory, Always: The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
⁠
DEC– Shop, Winter, Yours, Love:

What's In A Name reading challenge - 5/6
Choose 6 books that have titles that contain:

Cardinal direction: North Woods by Daniel Mason

Wanderlust: Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck

First & last name:

Alliteration: Hawaii's Humpback Whales by Gregory D. Kaufman & Paul H. Forestell

Deity: Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths by John Layman, Alberto Ponticelli (Artist)

Crime: Outlawed by Anna North

A quarter of the year gone already?! I had a lot of 4 star books this quarter, but the two that rose above are:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (my favorite of the year so far)

I had 3 favorites from the last quarter. In the order I read them:

Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
North Woods by Daniel Mason

My favorites from July-September in the order I read them are:

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Fireman by Joe Hill

I had 3 favorites from October-December to finish out the year. In the order I read them:

Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

My favorites of 2025 in the order I read them are:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
North Woods by Daniel Mason - my favorite of the year
The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan