The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge

Each year, I take on different reading challenges as a way to get outside of my reading comfort zone. For 2025, I plan to read a total of 52 books by completing the 52 Book Club's 2025 reading challenge.

If you'd like to participate in this 2025 reading challenge, visit www.the52bookclub.com/2025-reading-challenge.

Below is the list of reading prompts for the 2025 reading challenge which I'll start on January 1, 2025. After I finish each reading prompt, I'll update this list. If you want to see more of the books I've read this year and previous years, check out my Goodreads profile at: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/15431036.

The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge:

1. A pun in the title: Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros
2. A character with red hair: Teen Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo
3. Title starts with the letter "M:" Meanwhile by Jason Shiga
4. Title starts with the letter "N:" Never Give Up: A Prairie Family's Story by Tom Brokaw
5. Plot includes a heist: The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
6. Genre one: set in Spring: Haru: Spring by Joe Latham
7. Genre two: set in Summer: Bad Call: A Summer Job on a New York Ambulance by Mike Scardino
8. Genre three: set in Autumn:
9. Genre four: set in Winter:
10. Author's last name is also a first name: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
11. A prequel:
12. Has a moon of the cover: Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back: A Native Ammerican Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London
13. Title is ten letters or less: You Are Here by David Nicholls
14. Climate fiction: Lark Ascending by Silas House
15. Include Latin America history: Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels by Deborah Bonello
16. Author has won an Edgar Award: The Internal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of The Modern Detective by Steven Johnson 
17. Told in verse: I Am Water by Meg Specksgoor
18. A character who can fly:What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing-- What Birds Are Doing, And Why by David Allen Sibley
19. Has short chapeters: Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson 
20. A fairy tale retelling:
21. Character's name in the title: Growing Up Urkel by Jaleel White
22. Found family trope: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
23. A sprayed edge:
24. Title is a spoiler:
25. Breaks the fourth wall: The Wall in the Middle of the Book by Jon Agee
26. More than a million copies sold: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
27.Features a magician: The Magicians: New Class by Lev Grossman with Lilah Sturges and Pius Bak
28. A crossover (set in a shared universe:) That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming
29. Shared universe with prompt 28: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming
30. In the public domain:
31. Audiobooks has multiple narrators:
32. Includes a diary entry: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
33. A standalone novel:
34. Direction in the title: The New Black West: Photographs From America's Only Touring Black Rodeo by Gabriela Hasbun
35. Written in the third person: Mr Katō Plays Family byMilena Michiko Flašar
36. Final sentence is less that 6 words long:
37. Genre chosen for you be someone else: Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett (bitpunk)
38. An adventure story:
39. Has an epigraph:
40. Stream of consciousness narrative: The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan
41. Cover font is in a primary color: In a League of Her Own: Celebrating Female Firsts in Sports by Bonnie-Jill Laflin
42. Non-human antagonist: Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan
43. Explores social class: Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
44. A celebrity on the cover: Black TV: Five Decades of Groundbreaking Television form Soul Train to Black-ish and Beyond by Bethonie Butler
45. Author releases more than one book a year:
46. Read in a "-Ber" month:
47. "I think it was blue:" The Only Woman by Immy Humes
48. Related to the word "puzzle:" The Playful Brain: The Surprising Science of How Puzzles Improve Your Mind by Richard Restak, M.D. with puzzles by Scott Kim
49. Set in a country with an active volcano: The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir (Set in Iceland)
50. Set in the 1940s: Osamu Dazai's The Setting Sun: The Manga Edition by Coco Kashiwaya
51. 300-400 pages long: Get a Hobby: 365 Things to Do for Fun (Not Worlk!) by Jasmine Cho
52. Published in 2025: Losing Sight by Tati Richardson

Fun Holiday Weekend With Bestie & Her Son

Over the Labor Day weekend, K (my best friend since middle school came to viist from Alalabama and  along with her A, (her seven year of son) for his first cross country flight. They arrived at LAX on Fraiday and stayed with hubby and I over the weekend they left on Labor Day afternoon.

Me, Friend K, and her son A

The first stop once K and A arrived was In-N-Out Bruger for their famous burgers and french fries.

K enjoying an In-N-Out burger and fries

A enjoying an In-N-Out burger

Since me and K are avid readers, out next stop after In-N-Out was "The Last Bookstore" which is a used bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. We all enjoyed checking browsing the store, taking photos and buying books to read later.

K and A in front of The Last Bookstore

The second day, we took K and A to Mission Beach in San Diego so they can enjoy playing in the waves follwed by going to the nearby Belmont Park for them to ride amusement park rides. 

Me, K and A at Mission Beach

Hubby with A at Mission Beach

K and A at Mission Beach

K and A sitting in big chair at Belmont Park

The third day of K and A 's visit to California, hubby and I decided to give them the Disneyland experience without actually going to Disneyland or California Adventure by taking them to a character breakfast at the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel. 

Mickey Mouse, K, and A

After a delicious breakfast and plenty of photo opportunities for K and A, we took them to Downtown Disney since A loves Legos. While in Downtown Disney, K and A enjoyed churros for the first time then K bought A a Lego kit to take home with him back to Alabama.

K and A in front of Downtown Disney sign

A and K enjoying a churro

A in front of the Downtown Disney Lego Store

The evening of the third day, hubby and I took K and A to Knotts Berry Farm since A loves Snoopy and we had fun seeing "Ghosts Town Alive" and riding rides at Campy Snoopy

Me, A, and K in big chair at Knotts Berry Farm

Following four days of fun with K and A, it was time for them to return back to Alabama. As we dropped K and A off at the airport, K promised to return to California with A next year since she feels there's a lot more places she and A wanted to explore.

Me and K saying goodbye at airport

Reunited (And It Feels So Good)

 I recently had an opportunity to visit my old library system, the Kings County Library system in Hanford, CA after having left in April 2021and I was able to catch up with my old co-workers. First, I visited my old job headquarters was suprised to see Chris, a former co-worker I used to supervise and had retired before I left the library for another job back working in the library. After seening Chris, it was also fun to catch up with co-workers as well as a former library graduate student whose work I supervised and is now worrking as the digital services librarian for the library system. 

Kings County Library - Hanford Branch

Me and employee Chris 

Me and co-worker Brian

Me and co-worker Sherman

Me and work BFF Farrah

Me and co-worker Ashley

Following visitng the Hanford Branch library, I stopped by the Lemoore Branch library to see my favorite co-worker Barbara. Me and Barbara worked closely together on various work projects so I was happy to see that she was promoted to Lemoore branch lead after I left Kings County to work at the Beaumont Library.

 

Kings County Library - Lemoore Branch

Me and former co-worker Barbara

After visiting with Barbara in Lemoore, I stopped by another library branch that I used to supervise which was the Stratford branch library and see Viviana, a favorite employee I supervised.

Kings County Library - Stratford Branch 

Me and former employee Viviana

After visiting eveyone at the various library locations, I ended my visit to Kings County by visiting Jodi, a former library patron who later become a wonderful friend.

Me and former library patron/friend Jodi

Having finished my visit to my old library and seeing old co-workers, I was happy to see that everyone is finding ways to adapt to changes in the library system such as having a new library director.

Overall, I left Kings County feeling glad that despite being gone for years, everyone was still happy to see me and was transparent about how things hae been since I left as well as life outside of the library.