riida's 2025 TBR challenge

DNF(0/0)

FIN (12/12)
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor (4/5)
Jade War by Fonda Lee (5/5)
Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto (4.5/5)
The Khan by Saima Mir (5/5)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (5/5)
Femlandia by Christina Dalcher 3/5
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 5/5
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 5/5
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton 4/5
Malice by John Gwynne 4.5/5
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison 5/5
A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin 4/5

2025 TBR (12/24)
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Black Sun - Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse
Bone by Jeff Smith
Dangerous Women: The Compelling And Beautifully Written Mystery About Friendship, Secrets And Redemption by Hope Adams
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg
The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
The Goddess Chronicles by Natsuo Kirino
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Transition by Iain M. Banks

i think i finally have to admit that i no longer have the energy to push reading more books in a year...it makes me both happy (i have other things happening in my life!) and sad (what other things are more important than my books??). so i thought, the heck with it, i just want to read what i want to read this year! (that sounds weird...i always read what i want to read :p)

i'm carrying over most of my unread books from last year's challenge (i realised i really do want to read these!), and then added titles that caught my eye as i randomly skimmed my HUUUUGE unread stack. as usual, if i tick off 12 of these, i'll end my reading year happy ^_^

Good luck with your carryovers. Maybe this will be their lucky year.

I hope you find books to read (from wherever) that make you happy!

Miss Smilla is fantastic. I still haven't gotten around to sampling Olivia Butler or Ann Patchett, but eventually.

I loved The Dutch House, but I confess I listened to the audiobook, which was read by Tom Hanks & he did an excellent job, so that may have influenced my opinion. Enjoy your reading, whatever you decide to read!

>6 Charon07: - I've only heard good things about the audiobook version. Makes me wish I had listened to it, I think it would have helped improve my experience with the book.

tnx all ^_^ i already just started with Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, and already its not what i expected :D

finished: Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
4/5



i thought this would be a modern Orlando...but it was...different...this would actually have made for a good slice-of-life anime, and i would watch it ^_^

paul is a queer college student in the US...refers to himself as 'he/him' but loves to present as a gorfeous woman, and is attracted to pretty much all good looking people. he's a pleasure seeker, and like most pleasure seekers in stories, he's really just looking for happiness (sappy! ^_^). but the book is not at all spicy or melodramatic. it was surprisingly sober, every day, and raw. oh, and paul has a secret ability that (i imagine) could have made him the envy of several LGBTQ+ people...another thing that made him different.

>9 riida: Well, that sounds intriguing!

omg! im so behind my reviews...seems i have finished 3 more books since my last update...but i am starting to forget them already!!!

need to add some quick and even short reviews here while i still have some impressions of them in my memory...

finished: Jade War
5/5

finished: Tokyo Express
4.5/5

finished: The Khan
5/5

>12 riida: >13 riida: The former accountant in me is intrigued by books that make finances and spreadsheets interesting.

>15 Charon07: - Me too!!! It’s not often that spreadsheets can be described as interesting, no matter how much I love a good spreadsheet.

>15 Charon07:, >16 LittleTaiko: hahaha im in good company ^_^

finished: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
5/5

finished: Femlandia
3/5

>18 riida: I had to add this to my TBR. I loved This Is How You Lose the Time War, even with the time-travelling, dimension-hopping, murdering, super agents.

>20 Charon07: :D

finished: The Dutch House
5/5

>22 riida: I also listened to Tom Hanks read this one, and I also loved it.

>22 riida: - I should have listened to the audio for this one. I wasn’t a huge fan of the book but I feel that having Tom Hanks read it to me would have improved it immensely.

Haven't read anything by Patchett yet but I really want to.

>24 LittleTaiko: yes...yes, he probably would have ^_^

(now im wondering if i really did like the book!?!?! :p)

finished: Kindred
5/5

>27 riida: - I still think about this book today and I read it several years ago. It’s probably something I should reread. It really packed a punch.

I've Octavia Butler on my TBR pile but I think it's a different one. This sounds interesting.

>28 LittleTaiko: >29 Cecrow: yeah, i've a feeling this will stay with me for a long long time too...i could only afford to write the short review after a few days as the memories are still too strong. and i have now started to put a lot of butler's other books on my watchlist too

my reading year started out so well...now im struggling in the final stretch of 2025...

>31 riida: Much as I love to read, I find that enthusiasm for reading waxes and wanes. I was in a bit of a slump a few months ago, so I’m using October as an excuse entice myself by reading horror books, a guilty pleasure of mine.

>31 riida: - I'm in a similar boat. Somewhere during the year I start struggling to balance what I should be reading (challenge, book club) with what I want to read.

>32 Charon07: - Same, except for the horror book part. I've been leaning more towards ghost centric books, but they are more of the charming variety of ghost and not the scary kinds.

>33 LittleTaiko: >32 Charon07: oh, that sounds fantastic. i should just forget about reading goals for a while and pick up a guilty pleasure ^_^ not horror tho...i scare too easily :p

finished: The Devil and the Dark Water
4/5

Finally, I finished one off my TBR!

just finished: Malice by John Gwynne
4.5/5

Finally, my 10th book! I wonder if have time to make it an even dozen for the challenge...

just finished: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
5/5

Sounds a bit grim. How wonderful to get a 5 star read though!

about a month and half late, but i finally manged to finish the last book needed to meet my 2025 challenge! \o/\o/\o/

just finished: A Magic Steeped In Poison
4/5

Good job at stubbornly hanging in there!

Better late than never! Congrats!

Congrats! It’s all about the journey, so it doesn’t matter when you get there. Hope you enjoyed the reading!

>40 Cecrow: >41 LittleTaiko: >42 Charon07: haha thanks! there's a special satisfaction when stubborness kind of pays off :p